LLNL researchers Steve Payne and Nerine Cherepy. Photo by Jacqueline McBride/LLNL

The
work of Steve Payne, Nerine Cherepy (both Chemical Sciences Division),
and Natalia Zaitseva (Condensed Matter and Materials Division) on
developing new materials for radiation detection was highlighted in an
article in Innovation.

Cherepy’s
team at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is developing a
high-resolution scintillator material that operates at room temperature,
is inexpensive, and can be manufactured in large volumes. Team members
recently showed that europium-doped strontium iodide has higher
conversion efficiency than cerium-doped lanthanum bromide. Small
crystals have demonstrated 2.5% energy resolution, slightly
better than lanthanum bromide detectors. This work was honored with a
2010 R&D 100 award.

Zaitseva’s
team is developing a material that can effectively separate a signature
for neutrons from a strong background of gamma radiation by using
pulse-shape discrimination. Team members have surveyed more than 140
organic compounds, all of which have characteristics known to be
important for fast-neutron detection. Recently, they have discovered a
compound with triple pulse-shape discrimination capabilities that can
discriminate fast neutrons from thermal neutrons from gamma radiation.
This material may also prove to be an effective antineutrino detector.

2010 R&D 100 Awards: A New Formula for Radiation Detection

https://www.llnl.gov/news/aroundthelab/2011/Mar/030411_innovation.html