Novel high-stopping power scintillators for medical applications

Development of new scintillator materials is a continuous effort, which recently has been focused on materials with higher stopping power. Higher stopping power can be achieved if the compositions include elements such as Tl (Z=81) or Lu (Z=71), as the compounds gain higher densities and effective atomic numbers. In context of medical imaging this translates into high detection efficiency (count rates), therefore, better image quality (statistics, thinner films) or lower irradiation doses to patients in addition to lowering of cost. Many known scintillator hosts, commercial or in research stages, are alkali metal halides (Cs, K, Rb). Often these monovalent ions can be replaced with monovalent Tl. Since Tl has a higher atomic number than for example Cs (55), this increases the stopping power of modified compounds. A good example of an enhanced host is Ce doped Tl