This method allows users to identify legal versus illegal gamma rays. Detectors like these are critical for national security, where they’re used to detect illegal nuclear materials smuggled across borders and aid in nuclear forensics, as well as in medical diagnostics imaging.

Using cesium lead bromide in the form of perovskite crystals, the research team found they were able to create highly efficient detectors in both small, portable devices for field researchers and very large detectors. The results are more than a decade in the making.

Northwestern professor Mercouri Kanatzidis, who led the research, said that in addition to being less costly than typical devices, the new method for detecting gamma rays is also highly capable at differentiating between rays of different energies. This method allows users to identify legal versus illegal gamma rays. Detectors like these are critical for national security, where they’re used to detect illegal nuclear materials smuggled across borders and aid in nuclear forensics, as well as in medical diagnostics imaging.

«Using the perovskite material, we have achieved high resolution in energy detection for gamma rays using a pixelated detector design,» Kanatzidis said. «This takes us a step closer to creating electronic systems for medical diagnostics and imaging, airport security and more.»

The study will be published Dec. 7 in the journal Nature Photonics.

Kanatzidis is the Charles E. and Emma H. Morrison Professor of Chemistry in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. He has a joint appointment with Argonne National Laboratory.

Story Source: Materials provided by Northwestern University. Original written by Lila Reynolds. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.