Study of CsI:CO3 Crystals for α Detector

We grew CsI :CO3 single crystals with 0.1 mol % concentration of CO3 by using Czochralski method. We studied the feasibility of the CsI :CO3 crystal as an α-ray detector which can be used to measure total alpha or beta activity in environmental samples. For the discrimination between α and β particles, we investigated the uorescence decay time characteristics of a CsI :CO3 single crystal. We also investigated the other scintillation properties such as the alpha beta ratio, the pulse height spectrum, and the ability of pulse shape discrimination between the pulse of α and that of the β . We used 2 μm aluminum Mylar foil for the radiation entrance window of a CsI :CO3 crystal. To estimate the energy loss of α particle in the aluminum Mylar foil, we simulated by using the GEANT 4 simulation tool kit. We demonstrated the performance of the α detector with various radiation sources as well as environmental soil sample.