Exploratory Studies of Optical Response to Gamma and Neutron Radiation of Doped and Undoped II-VI, III-V, and Novel Scintillating Core/Shell Nanocrystals [UNM_FY06_025]

闪烁体通常由透明绝缘体和作为发光中心的杂质组成。它们往往速度慢或效率多么低。胶体纳米晶体在液体，溶胶-凝胶和有机聚合物将得到发展。纳米晶体表面将被修饰以使其可溶。将研究光学响应，并比较不同系统的结果。这项工作将提供胶体纳米晶体对辐照的光学响应的第一个研究。预计这一努力将导致利用纳米晶体中电子和空穴的三维约束来识别高效，快速的闪烁体。它将提供一个系统的伽玛射线和中子响应和表征纳米晶体的数据库。这项工作将有助于研究辐射对纳米晶体的基本影响及其在手持高效核辐射探测器中的应用。这项工作将对闪烁材料的发展产生重大影响，并将其范围扩大到纳米晶体。这些团体通过一个专门的项目积极地吸引本科生参与研究，重点是招募、指导、保留和毕业代表性不足的群体成员。

Scintillators are usually consist of a transparent insulator and an impurity that functions as a luminescence center. They are often slow or how low efficiency. Colloidal nano-crystals in liquids, sol-gel and organic polymers will be developed. The nano-crystal surface will be modified to make them soluble. The optical response will be investigated and results compared across systems. The work will provide the first studies of the optical response of colloidal nano-crystals to irradiation. It is anticipated that this effort will lead to identification of high-efficiency, fast scintillators utilizing 3D confinement of electrons and holes in nano-crystals. It will provide a systematic database of gamma ray and neutron response and characterization of nano-crystals. The work will contribute to the investigation of basic radiation effects on nano-crystals and their utilization in handheld, efficient detectors of nuclear radiation. The work should have a major impact on the development of scintillating materials and expand the range to nano-crystals. The groups actively engages undergraduate students in the research through a specialized program focused on recruitment, mentoring, retention and graduation of members of underrepresented groups.