Low-Dimensional Copper Halide Dcintillators for X-Ray Imaging and Dosimetry

Overview

X-ray detectors mostly rely on scintillators, but conventional ones need high-temperature crystal growth, often contain toxic or rare-earth elements, and trade light yield against decay time. Low-dimensional copper halides such as Cs₃Cu₂I₅ and CsCu₂I₃ offer near-unity quantum yields, large Stokes shifts, lead-free chemistry and low-temperature processing, yet are rarely used. This thesis addresses what limits their deployment. Microdoping with bismuth makes Cs₃Cu₂I₅ brighter and more stable, producing high-resolution X-ray imaging screens, while manganese doping shifts its emission to match low-cost photodiodes for a wireless personal dosimeter. An electrochemical growth route produces films with controllable thickness and phase, adds fast emission channels for timing, and opens the way to conformal growth. At the system level, composite films coupled to silicon photomultipliers enable high-rate pulse counting, and filtered photodiodes combined with an embedded neural network estimate X-ray tube potential in real time for machine quality assurance. Together, these studies show the limiting constraint moving from material to instrument.