Calcium Fluoride as an X-Ray and Charged Particle Detector

Europium activated calcium fluoride a non-hydroscopic, relatively inert scintillation crystal, is discussed as an x-ray and charged particle detector. Pertinent physical properties, including refractive index, optical transmission, and fluorescent emission characteristics are summarized and mass absorption coefficients calculated from elemental cross sections are presented. Recent advances in growth techniques have resulted in single crystal ingots with rather high scintillation light yields and data obtained from these crystals are presented. These data include relative pulse heights, linearity of response from 6 Kev to 122 Kev, resolution as a function of photon energy, emission decay constant, response to alpha and beta particles, and the light output of CaF2(Eu) as a function of temperature from -60°C to + +80°c.