Diamond scintillation detector.

摘要

The invention provides a scintillation detector for nuclear radiation which comprises a synthetic diamond (10) having a nitrogen impurity concentration of 150ppm or less. The detector has solvent (or oxides thereof) impurity concentrations of 1000ppm or less, where the solvents are any of the following: Ni, Cu, Mn, Al or Cr, or combinations thereof. The detector has Fe and Co impurity concentrations of less than 10ppm. A practical version of the detector includes an optical fibre (12) and a photomultiplier tube (14), the optical fibre collecting light emitted by the diamond and channelling it to the photomultiplier tube.