Electro-optic devices based on doped wide-band materials are present in industrial uses, in military applications and in everyday life. Whether one engages in laser surgery with a neodymium-Y AG laser or one communicates overseas using optical fibers, the development of these materials is both scientifically and commercially of great interest. Much of the most innovative work has been done in the last 15 years in this area. A minor revolution in optical fiber communications has occurred with the development of erbium-doped fiber amplifiers. Solid-state laser development shifted into high-gear with the theoretical and experimental study of doubly-doped garnet lasers. Recent developments on semiconductor laser arrays are making diode pumped solid-state lasers commercially feasible. The purpose of this book is to detail these developments and to point out that many of the same underlying physical processes control advances in several diverse applications. For example, the basic science of energy transfer will be discussed by Zharikov et al. and Rotman for energy transfer and dopant-defect interactions, respectively; it will also be crucial in understanding cerium-doped scintilla tors, neodymium-chromium lasers, and up-conversion fiber lasers. As another example, phonon-induced non-radiative relaxation will appear in every chapter in this book.

The Fifth International Conference on Calorimetry in High Energy Physics was held Sept. 25 - Oct. 1, 1994 at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The results presented show that calorimetry is a key element in the experiments at the frontier. As these experiments evolve, there are new challenges for calorimetry in terms of performance in energy and position resolution at ever increasing rates. The proceedings document the state-of-the-art in calorimetry.

This second edition features new chapters highlighting advances in our understanding of the behavior and properties of scintillators, and the discovery of new families of materials with light yield and excellent energy resolution very close to the theoretical limit. The book focuses on the discovery of next-generation scintillation materials and on a deeper understanding of fundamental processes. Such novel materials with high light yield as well as significant advances in crystal engineering offer exciting new perspectives. Most promising is the application of scintillators for precise time tagging of events, at the level of 100 ps or higher, heralding a new era in medical applications and particle physics. Since the discovery of the Higgs Boson with a clear signature in the lead tungstate scintillating blocks of the CMS Electromagnetic Calorimeter detector, the current trend in particle physics is toward very high luminosity colliders, in which timing performance will ultimately be essential to mitigating pile-up problems. New and extremely fast light production mechanisms based on Hot-Intraband-Luminescence as well as quantum confinement are exploited for this purpose. Breakthroughs such as crystal engineering by means of co-doping procedures and selection of cations with small nuclear fragmentation cross-sections will also pave the way for the development of more advanced and radiation-hard materials. Similar innovations are expected in medical imaging, nuclear physics ecology, homeland security, space instrumentation and industrial applications. This second edition also reviews modern trends in our understanding and the engineering of scintillation materials. Readers will find new and updated references and information, as well as new concepts and inspirations to implement in their own research and engineering endeavors.

During the last ten to fifteen years, researchers have made considerable progress in the study of inorganic scintillators. New scintillation materials have been investigated, novel scintillation mechanisms have been discovered, and additional scintillator applications have appeared. Demand continues for new and improved scintillation materials for a variety of applications including nuclear and high energy physics, astrophysics, medical imaging, geophysical exploration, radiation detection, and many other fields. However, until now there have been no books available that address in detail the complex scintillation processes associated with these new developments. Now, a world leader in the theory and applications of scintillation processes integrates the latest scientific advances of scintillation into a new work, Physical Processes in Inorganic Scintillators. Written by distinguished researcher Piotr Rodnyi, this volume explores this challenging subject, explains the complexities of scintillation from a modern point of view, and illuminates the way to the development of better scintillation materials. This unique work first defines the fundamental physical processes underlying scintillation and governing the primary scintillation characteristics of light output, decay time, emission spectrum, and radiation hardness. The book then discusses the complicated mechanisms of energy conversion and transformation in inorganic scintillators. The section on the role of defects in energy transfer and scintillation efficiency will be of special interest. Throughout, the author does not offer complicated derivations of equations but, instead, presents useful equations with practical results.

This book contains an excellent overview of the status and highlights of brilliant light facilities and their applications in biology, chemistry, medicine, materials and environmental sciences. Overview papers on diverse fields of research by leading experts are accompanied by the highlights in the near and long-term perspectives of brilliant X-Ray photon beam usage for fundamental and applied research.

The exploration of the subnuclear world is carried out through increasingly complex experiments covering a wide range of energies and in a large variety of environments — from particle accelerators and underground detectors to satellites and space laboratories. For these research programs to succeed, novel techniques, new materials and new instrumentation need to be used in detectors, often on a large scale. This book reviews the advances made in all technological aspects of the experiments at various stages.The proceedings have been selected for coverage in:• Index to Scientific & Technical Proceedings® (ISTP® / ISI Proceedings)• Index to Scientific & Technical Proceedings (ISTP CDROM version / ISI Proceedings)• CC Proceedings — Engineering & Physical Sciences