Cerium-doped lanthanum bromide (Ce:LaBr3) crystal has excellent scintillation performance and high global R&D enthusiasm

Cerium-doped lanthanum bromide (Ce:LaBr3) crystal is a new generation of inorganic scintillation crystal. It has the advantages of high light output, high energy resolution, and short decay time. It is the crystal with the best scintillation performance currently known. Based on its excellent properties, cerium-doped lanthanum bromide crystals are expected to replace traditional scintillation crystals such as NaI:Tl crystals, and have broad development prospects in fields such as nuclear medical imaging, space physics, environmental testing, industrial non-destructive testing, national defense equipment, and environmental inspections.

According to the “2022-2026 China Cerium-doped Lanthanum Bromide (Ce:LaBr3) Crystal Industry Market Monitoring and Future Development Prospects Research Reportreleased by the Industrial Research Center span>》 shows that the cerium-doped lanthanum bromide crystal is a hexagonal crystal with low crystal structure symmetry and obvious thermal expansion coefficient anisotropy. At the same time, the cerium-doped lanthanum bromide crystal is easy to absorb moisture, resulting in large-sized cerium-doped lanthanum bromide. Lanthanum crystals are difficult to grow and process. Globally, suppliers of cerium-doped lanthanum bromide crystals include American CPI, American CTI, French Saint-Gobain, etc. Among them, French Saint-Gobain is the main supplier of cerium-doped lanthanum bromide crystals, but the crystals and components it produces are embargoed in my country. .

Since its discovery in the early 21st century, cerium-doped lanthanum bromide crystals have attracted widespread attention from researchers around the world due to their excellent scintillation properties. In the domestic market, relevant R&D institutions for cerium-doped lanthanum bromide crystals include the Fujian Institute of Material Structure and the Chinese Academy of Sciences Shanghai Ceramic Research Institute, Intraocular Lens Research Institute, etc. With active research and development by relevant institutions, the monopoly of cerium-doped lanthanum bromide crystal technology by foreign companies has been broken.

Cerium-doped lanthanum bromide crystal has excellent scintillation performance and is one of the most commercially valuable rare earth scintillation crystals. In 2018, cerium-doped lanthanum bromide crystal was selected into the “Catalogue of Technologies and Products Encouraged and Popularized in the Building Materials Industry (2018-2019 Edition)” issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. In order to regulate market development, relevant departments have formulated and issued the industry standard “Cerium-doped Lanthanum Bromide Scintillation Crystal”, which regulates technical requirements, inspection methods, inspection rules, transportation and storage, etc.

The production of cerium-doped lanthanum bromide crystals is difficult and due to technical limitations, domestic companies are currently unable to compete with international companies in terms of scale and quality. As one of the key scintillation crystals for PET, CT and PET-CT equipment, the domestic production of cerium-doped lanthanum bromide crystal will not only help reduce the production cost of domestic PET, CT, PET/CT equipment, but also speed up the development of high-end nuclear medicine imaging equipment. The comprehensive popularization and localization process will also help improve the international status of domestic scintillation crystals.

Industry analysts said that cerium-doped lanthanum bromide crystals have excellent scintillation performance and are widely used in nuclear medicine imaging, space physics, environmental detection, and industry. Non-destructive testing and other fields have broad application prospects. Global enthusiasm for research and development of cerium-doped lanthanum bromide crystals is high. However, due to the difficulty of research and development and production, there is still a gap between my country’s cerium-doped lanthanum bromide crystal industry and the international advanced level, and there is an urgent need for localization of high-end products.