학술논문

Kinetic Monte Carlo Model of Scintillation Mechanisms in CsI and CsI(Tl)
Document Type
Periodical
Source
IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. Nuclear Science, IEEE Transactions on. 55(3):1251-1258 Jun, 2008
Subject
Nuclear Engineering
Bioengineering
Kinetic theory
Monte Carlo methods
Computational modeling
Energy exchange
Lattices
Probability
Spontaneous emission
Equations
Temperature distribution
Predictive models
Alkali halides
cesium iodide
emission spectra
gamma-ray radiation
kinetic Monte Carlo
light yield
nonlinearity
scintillation decay curves
scintillation mechanisms
thallium
Language
ISSN
0018-9499
1558-1578
Abstract
We have developed a computational model of energy transfer processes in scintillators using the kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) approach. In this publication, we focus on the alkali halide compound CsI both pure and doped with a range of thallium concentrations. The KMC model makes use of an explicit atomistic representation of the crystal lattice, activator sites, defect sites, and individual electron-hole pairs. The probability of individual diffusion, recombination, and scintillation events is calculated from rate equations parameterized with data published in the literature. Scintillation decay curves, relative intensities of emission peaks, and light yields are computed and found to be in good agreement with experimental data for a range of temperatures and thallium concentrations. This demonstrates that the KMC scintillation model is capable of reproducing both the kinetics and the efficiency of the scintillation process in CsI. In addition, novel predictions emerge from our simulations such as the diffusion distance distributions of self-trapped holes and excitons. Finally, the KMC scintillation model provides a framework for probing possible physical processes responsible for the nonlinear relationship between scintillation light yield and incident gamma-ray energy.