Dear Colleagues,

Scintillator materials are known as the transformers of high-energy photons and particles (X- or ɣ-rays, electrons, protons, neutrons, alfa, or heavy ions) into an ultraviolet–visible light.

Over the last 30 years, considerable effort has been made to create new scintillation materials for high-energy physics and advanced imaging systems for application in industry, science, biology, and medicine. The majority of newly developed single-crystal scintillators have been based on Ce³⁺- and Pr³⁺-doped materials due to their fast scintillation response (up to 100 ns) and high light yield, connected with the 5d–4f radiative transitions of these ions.

Usually, the best scintillation figure of merit is provided by single-crystal scintillators; however, not all efficient materials can be grown in the form of bulk crystals with sufficiently large dimensions and prices for practical applications.  For this reason, optical ceramics have been used as an alternative to crystals to provide bulk optical elements in cases where crystals cannot be grown, or when transparent ceramics show superior properties in comparison with crystals. The technology of using optical ceramics as solid-state lasers has progressed within the last three decades. Fast optical ceramics, based on Ce- and Pr-doped YAG and LuAG, have been developed as well. However, their applications demand a higher quality of scintillation ceramic in comparison with laser ceramics because the point defects can seriously limit the material performance due to the introduction of trapping levels in the material band gap.

New X-ray-based imaging applications with a submicrometre spatial resolution have required the development of thin-film scintillators with micrometre-scale thicknesses. Liquid-phase epitaxy technology is often used for the growth of high-quality single-crystalline films of different optical materials. The limitation of the performance of film scintillators within this technology is connected to film–substrate misfits and the influence of flux-related impurities on the scintillation properties.

Modern medical therapies, such as photodynamic therapy, strongly demand the development of nanopowder scintillators. Lanthanide-doped inorganic nanopowders have also been considered for future biomedical applications as luminescent nanoprobes. Nowadays, nanocomposite materials have also become a hot topic in the field of scintillators, with the aim of preparing bulk transparent materials where scintillation characteristics are defined by a nano-phase dispersed in a suitable host.

In this Special Issue, we aim to introduce and describe in more detail the current status, in terms of R&D, of bulk, ceramic, film, and nanocomposite scintillators that are prepared using different technological methods. Both technological descriptions and the various characterization aspects of scintillation materials, together with application aspects in the abovementioned fields, will be provided.

Prof. Dr. Yuriy Zorenko
Guest Editor

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• scintillators
• crystals, films, ceramics, and nanopowders
• melt growth, liquid phase epitaxy, and solid-state reactions
• luminescence
• energy transfer processes
• defects and dopants

• Crystals, Films and Nanocomposite Scintillators (Volume II) in Crystals (2 articles)
• Crystals, Films and Nanocomposite Scintillators in Crystals (5 articles)