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Understanding phase equilibria and segregation in Bridgman growth of Cs2LiYCl6 scintillator

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Abstract

Cs2LiYCl6 (CLYC) is a commercial scintillator material having good energy resolution and dual gamma/neutron detection capabilities. CLYC crystals currently used in detectors are grown by the vertical Bridgman method. Boules grown from stoichiometric melts, however, often contain secondary phases, Cs3YCl6 and LiCl, at the beginning and end of the crystal, respectively, suggesting that this composition is incongruently melting. Since no phase diagram containing CLYC existed in the literature prior to this study, the Cs2YCl5–LiCl phase diagram was explored. Several crystals were then grown from various melt compositions. As predicted from the phase diagram, a starting composition of around 60 mol% LiCl did not produce Cs3YCl6 and maintained a low concentration of LiCl.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We wish to thank Stanford Nano Shared Facilities for giving us access to an X-ray diffractometer, Prof. Yi Cui for allowing us to use his DTA/TGA system, and George Calvert for assistance with the dry glovebox and transparent furnace. This work was partially supported by the Department of Homeland Security contract HSHQDC-15-C-B0040.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Materials Science & Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California, 94305, USA

    Francesco L. Ruta & Robert S. Feigelson

  2. CapeSym, Inc., Natick, Massachusetts, 01760, USA

    Stacy Swider & Stephanie Lam

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  1. Francesco L. Ruta
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  2. Stacy Swider
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  3. Stephanie Lam
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  4. Robert S. Feigelson
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Correspondence to Francesco L. Ruta.

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Ruta, F.L., Swider, S., Lam, S. et al. Understanding phase equilibria and segregation in Bridgman growth of Cs2LiYCl6 scintillator. Journal of Materials Research 32, 2373–2380 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2017.168

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2017.168

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