New Scintillators and their Integration into Detector Systems

Speaker: Dr. Nerine Cherepy, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Abstract: Scintillators for ionizing radiation detection, spectroscopy and imaging are being developed by LLNL and our partners that offer performance improvements over existing commercial scintillators. For gamma spectroscopy, SrI₂(Eu) and Garnet transparent ceramics were discovered, scaled up and have been demonstrated in prototype handheld gamma spectrometers offering high energy resolution for search and radioisotope identification.  We have developed Bismuth-loaded plastics that offer lightweight and low-cost gamma detection for applications such as portal monitors and backpack detectors.   (Gd,Lu,Eu)₂O₃ transparent ceramic plates that produce 7X improved throughput for MeV X-ray imaging are now being used in computed tomography applications.  New plastic scintillator screens with 3X higher light yield for MeV neutron imaging have been deployed in several experimental test-stands, including at OSU, where a collaboration with Prof. Raymond Cao and his team has produced high-quality fast neutron computed tomography of multi-material objects.  

Bio: Dr. Nerine Cherepy is a Deputy Group Leader in the Actinide and Lanthanide Science Group in the Materials Science Division at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.  She works on the development new light-emitting materials – including transparent ceramics, phosphors, single crystals and plastics – for various uses in ionizing radiation detection, laser optics, new imaging screens and lighting.  She has three R&D 100 awards, 18 awarded patents, and more than 150 published papers.  She is a recipient of the LLNL Mid-Career Award, a Fellow of SPIE (Chair of Hard X-Ray, Gamma-Ray, and Neutron Detector Physics, 2021-present), a Senior Member of IEEE (NSS Meeting Topic Convener for Scintillators and Photodetectors 2009, 2010, 2021, 2022), and has served as an associate editor for IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science since 2015.