Monte Carlo simulation of electron thermalization in scintillator materials: Implications for scintillator nonproportionality

被引:16
|
作者
Prange, Micah P. [1 ]
Xie, YuLong [2 ]
Campbell, Luke W. [3 ]
Gao, Fei [4 ]
Kerisit, Sebastien [1 ]
机构
[1] Pacific Northwest Natl Lab, Phys & Computat Sci Directorate, Richland, WA 99352 USA
[2] Pacific Northwest Natl Lab, Energy & Environm Directorate, Richland, WA 99352 USA
[3] Pacific Northwest Natl Lab, Natl Secur Directorate, Richland, WA 99352 USA
[4] Univ Michigan, Dept Nucl Engn & Radiol Sci, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 USA
关键词
LIGHT YIELD NONPROPORTIONALITY; GAMMA-RAY INTERACTION; LATTICE-DYNAMICS; HOLE PAIRS; HOT; PSEUDOPOTENTIALS; PROPORTIONALITY; TRANSPORT;
D O I
10.1063/1.4998966
中图分类号
O59 [应用物理学];
学科分类号
摘要
The lack of reliable quantitative estimates of the length and time scales associated with hot electron thermalization after a gamma-ray induced energy cascade obscures the Interplay of various microscopic processes controlling scintillator performance and hampers the search for improved detector materials. We apply a detailed microscopic kinetic Monte Carlo model of the creation and subsequent thermalization of hot electrons produced by gamma irradiation of six important scintillating crystals to determine the spatial extent of the cloud of excitations produced by gamma rays and the time required for the cloud to thermalize with the host lattice. The main ingredients of the model are ensembles of microscopic track structures produced upon gamma excitation (including the energy distribution of the excited carriers), numerical estimates of electron-phonon scattering rates, and a calculated particle dispersion to relate the speed and energy of excited carriers. All these ingredients are based on first-principles density functional theory calculations of the electronic and phonon band structures of the materials. The details of the Monte Carlo model are presented along with the results for thermalization time and distance distributions. These results are discussed in light of previous work. It is found that among the studied materials, calculated thermalization distances are positively correlated with measured nonproportionality. In the important class of halide scintillators, the particle dispersion is found to be more influential than the largest phonon energy in determining the thermalization distance. Published by AIP Publishing.
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页数:13
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