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The Low-Temperature Scintillation Properties of Bismuth Germanate and Its Application to High-Energy Gamma Radiation Imaging Devices

FDA, BRH, Nuclear Medicine Laboratory, Cincinnati, Ohio

Correspondence: For reprints contact: Harley V. Piltingsrud, FDA, Nuclear Medicine Laboratory, Cincinnati General Hospital, Cincinnati, OH 45267.

ABSTRACT

Bismuth germanate is a scintillation material with very high z, and high density (7.13 g/cm³). It is a rugged, nonhygroscopic, crystalline material with room-temperature scintillation properties described by previous investigators as having a light yield 8% of that of Nal(Tl), emission peak at 480 nm, decay constant of 0.3 µsec, and energy resolution 15% (FWHM) for Cs-137 gamma radiations. These properties make it an excellent candidate for applications involving the detection of high-energy gamma photons and positron annihilation radiation, particularly when good spatial resolution is desired. At room temperature, however, the application of this material is somewhat limited by low light output and poor energy resolution. This paper presents new data on the scintillation properties of bismuth germanate as a function of temperature from -196°C to + 30°C. Low-temperature use of the material is shown to greatly improve its light yield and energy resolution. The implications of this work to the design of imaging devices for high-energy radiation in health physics and nuclear medicine are discussed.