Core-valence luminescence in scintillators

The state of the art of core-valence luminescence (CVL) in a number of halides (BaF2, CsCl, LiBaF3, etc.) is analysed. The following items are discussed: common properties of CV-L, a suppression of slow emission component in BaF2, an effect of secondary excitation density on intensity and decay profile of the emission, a neutron-gamma discrimination, spectrum simulations, impurity-associated CVL, an origin of slow- and long-wavelength CVL components, a lattice relaxation, vibrations of lattice environment and phonon broadening of the emission bands. Experimental results on impurity-associated CVL of Rb1-xCsxBr (x < 0.2) are presented and discussed. It is shown that the impurity-associated luminescence gives us a convenient way for the improvement of light output and variation of the emission wavelength of the scintillators. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.