A scintillator material converts ionizing radiations into visible light. The process, a microscopic one related to the band gap energy in the atoms, is mediated by excited charge carriers which evolve and recombine in photons. Such recombination process evolves at a scale between the microscopic scale and the macroscopic scale of the bulk crystals. Here we show how this evolution process can be modeled with the mechanics of a continua with microstructure. By the means of thermodynamics we arrive at constitutive relations which lead to a reaction-diffusion-drift coupled system. Such a system resembles those already obtained, by starting from a different approach, for semiconductors. The mathematical study of these equations gives an insight about some properties of scintillator crystal which are confirmed by known experimental results.
Scintillating Crystals as Continua with Microstructure
Davì Fabrizio
2020-01-01
Abstract
A scintillator material converts ionizing radiations into visible light. The process, a microscopic one related to the band gap energy in the atoms, is mediated by excited charge carriers which evolve and recombine in photons. Such recombination process evolves at a scale between the microscopic scale and the macroscopic scale of the bulk crystals. Here we show how this evolution process can be modeled with the mechanics of a continua with microstructure. By the means of thermodynamics we arrive at constitutive relations which lead to a reaction-diffusion-drift coupled system. Such a system resembles those already obtained, by starting from a different approach, for semiconductors. The mathematical study of these equations gives an insight about some properties of scintillator crystal which are confirmed by known experimental results.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
