Hungarian researchers are developing a new type of detector for measuring radioactive radiation, the staff of the ELKH Atomic Nuclear Research Institute (ATOMKI) in Debrecen and the University of Szeged (SZTE) investigated the properties of a special family of minerals, the perovskites.
The aim of the researchers is to use them to develop miniaturized detectors while maintaining measurement accuracy, which can be used for special measurements in space research, nuclear power plants, and fusion reactors, among others, the Eötvös Loránd Research Network told MTI on Monday.
The staff of ATOMKI and SZTE published their research results in the prestigious scientific journal Advanced Functional Materials, and an international patent application was also filed for the use of detectors made using the examined perovskites.
The phenomenon of radioactivity was discovered in 1896, so-called scintillator materials were typically used to detect radiation in the early stages of research, which respond to incoming particles with a flash of light. The first observations were made in a darkened room with the naked eye.
Detectors of this type are still used today, thanks to their simplicity and high-time measurement accuracy, but flashes in the crystal are already monitored by light-sensing electronic units. The type of the detected particle can be deduced from the shape of the collected signals, and the particle’s energy from its size.
ATOMKI and SZTE researchers started investigating the properties of the recently increasingly popular crystalline material, perovskite, because in certain applications it is necessary to be able to make a very small detector from the scintillator material, which provides reliable data despite its small size.
According to the results of the tests, thin-film perovskites are suitable for detecting charged particles, but at the same time, they are insensitive to gamma radiation, which is particularly advantageous under certain measurement conditions. The researchers are confident that the material, which has not been used as a scintillator before, will perform excellently in its new role and can meet the strict requirements of space research, nuclear power plants, or even fusion reactors, as well as prove useful in the field of environmental radiation safety. Its use may be necessary mainly where reliable identification of microscopic amounts of radioactive material is required even in the presence of disturbing background radiation.
Perovskite does not denote a single mineral, but a mineral family with a specific structure and more than four hundred members. Among these, Hungarian researchers studied the scintillation properties of copper-based perovskites and reached extremely encouraging results.
During the research work, SZTE specialists used a layering process to produce thin layers similar to the thickness of a hair, but the surface of which can be of any size. The researchers of ATOMKI examined what kind of light emission occurs in the produced layers as a result of particle radiation of various types and energies. The subject of a separate investigation was how the perovskite thin layer withstands extreme conditions, as well as the intense particle rain that hits the layer.
MTI
