Spectral and kinetic characteristics of CdI2 and CdI2:Pb scintillators

We have studied the effect of lead dopant on the optical absorption, photoluminescence, and x-ray luminescence spectra, and the scintillation characteristics of CdI2 at room temperature. The crystals for the study were grown by the Stockbarger-Bridgman method. Activation of CdI2 from the melt by the compound PbI2 leads to the appearance in the absorption spectra in the near-edge region of an activator band at 395–405 nm, which is interpreted as an A band connected with electronic transitions from the 1S0 state to the 3P1 levels in the Pb2+ ion. For x-ray excitation, CdI2:Pb2+ crystals with optimal dopant concentration (∼1.0 mol%) are characterized by a light yield with maximum in the 570–580 nm region that is an order of magnitude higher than for CdI2 crystals in the 490–500 nm band. For α excitation, the radioluminescence kinetics for cadmium iodide is characterized by a very short (∼0.3 nsec) rise time and fast decay of luminescence, with τ1 ≈ 4 nsec and τ2 = 10–76 nsec. Depending on the conditions under which the crystals were obtained, the fast component fraction is 95%–99%. The crystal is characterized by a similar scintillation pulse in the case of excitation by x-ray pulses. The radioluminescence pulse shape for CdI2:Pb in the decay stage is predominantly exponential, with luminescence decay time constants τ1 ≈ 10 nsec and τ2 = 200–250 nsec. This system is characterized by low afterglow, at the level for the Bi4G3O12 scintillator. We have demonstrated the feasibility of using CdI2:Pb as a scintillator for detecting α particles.