The objective of this proposal is to determine if hygroscopic scintillation crystals such as Nal(TI) and Lil(Eu) can be handled and packaged without resort to dry boxes by using common laboratory materials and equipment. This proposal outlines an idea for cleaning, handling, and packaging crystals of any geometry within dry liquids in a normal laboratory environment. The work will also determine whether hydrated scintillation crystals of regular geometry or irregular fragments can be easily recovered and repackaged to produce an acceptable working detector. If successful, this would permit easy handling of hygroscopic crystals without special dry facilities and could lead to methods of recycling broken crystals for use in irregular geometries and large area shower counters and possibly production of scintillation crystals immune to mechanical or thermal shocks.Anticipated Results and
Potential Commercial Applications: This work could lead to less expensive and more flexible methods of working with hygroscopic scintillation crystals and could permit the recycling of crystals, thereby allowing cheaper construction of detectors of irregular or large area geometries. Development of detectors fairly immune to thermal or mechanical shocks may be possible.
