Abstract
Glass-ceramic materials are being developed for use in
digital mammography systems. The materials are transparent
x-ray storage phosphors, which are potentially less expensive
than competing materials with superior performance. The materials
do not suffer from loss of resolution and increased
noise due to light scattering from grain boundaries, as do the
currently available polycrystalline materials.
The glass ceramics are based on Eu2+ -doped fluorochlorozirconate
glasses. These can be heat treated to nucleate Eudoped
barium chloride nanocrystals. The glass ceramic converts
ionizing radiation (typically x-rays) into stable electronhole
pairs that can be �read� by scanning a stimulating light
beam across the glass to cause photostimulated luminescence
(PSL) emission.
Measurements on the materials are ongoing to elucidate
structure-property relationships developed as a result of introducing
rare-earth ions and modifying process conditions. Image
quality measurements indicate that the current material
competes with state-of-the-art x-ray imaging plates.
The paper presents results on structure, properties and future
directions of the materials described above.
