Scintillation properties of undoped CdS for ionizing radiation detectors

In the present study, nondoped CdS crystal with a size of 5 × 5 × 0.5 mm³ was investigated on the optical and scintillation properties. The optical transmittance was 70% at wavelength longer than 500 nm, and the absorption edge was around 490 nm. The photoluminescence emission peak appeared around 490 nm under 340 nm excitation with 6.6 ns fast decay time. In X-ray induced radioluminescence spectrum over the temperature range of 7-300 K, it showed four emission bands around 490, 500-540 with several peaks, 600, and 750 nm. Temperature dependences of each emission band were different. The scintillation decay time was reproduced by two exponential decay components of 8 and 67 ns, and that for X-ray induced afterglow was approximately 0.1% at 20 ms after switching of the X-ray irradiation. (author)