Investigation of degradation of electrical and photoelectrical properties in TlBr crystals

The interest in TlBr as a detector material is due to its high average atomic number, high density and wide bandgap. The photon stopping power of TlBr crystals is greater than that of any of the semiconductors considered today, therefore this material is promising for X- and γ-ray detector applications. However, the observed stability of TlBr radiation detectors is not good and therefore the investigation of degradation phenomena and improving the properties are important for the future of detectors. sults of investigation of electrical properties, photoconductivity and their degradation were investigated in TlBr single crystals. It is proposed that ionic conductivity creates a microinhomogeneity of the samples and this process is activated by electric field and by nonequilibrium carrier generation. The observed threshold type effects are related to the growth of structural defects.