Luminescence and scintillation properties of TlCdCl3 crystal

We report the photoluminescence and the scintillation properties of a newly developed thallium cadmium chloride (TlCdCl3) crystal. This crystal will provide excellent detection efficiency for X- and gamma-rays due to its high effective atomic number (Z(eff) = 68.7) and density (rho = 5.31 g/cm(3)). The crystal sample can be easily prepared from the melt using the Bridgman method. The photoluminescence band appeared near the wavelength of 450 nm under excitation at 270 nm. By tri-exponential equation fitting with a deconvolution of instrumental response, the photoluminescence decay time value was found to be approximately 24 ns (similar to 77.6%), 60 ns (similar to 19.8%) and 870 ns (similar to 2.6%). An X-ray-induced scintillation spectrum showed a broad emission band near the wavelength of 450 nm. The scintillation decay time constant was estimated to be approximately 2.6 ns (similar to 8%), 45 ns (similar to 47%) and 170 ns (similar to 45%) using a tri-exponential fitting. The scintillation light yield reached 2200 photons/MeV calibrated with a GSO commercial scintillator. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.