Lithium Glass Scintillators

Cerium activated lithium silicate glass scintillators have been used for a variety of radiation detection applications since their development in the late 1950’s. The most common application is neutron detection since the glasses are often enriched in Lithium-6

• Neutron spectrometry
• Neutron radiography
• Oil and gas exploration
• Alpha, beta and gamma detection in extreme environments

Glass scintillators are divided into three types based on the percentage (by weight) of lithium content. In each type, the lithium is present in its natural isotopic ratio, enriched in ⁶Li to 95%, or depleted in ⁶Li (99.99% ⁷Li). The properties of the different glasses within each type are similar except for neutron sensitivity.

All of the glasses are formulated to have extremely low backgrounds (less than 20 dpm/100g of alpha activity) making it no longer necessary to order special types having this property.