The observation of scintillation in a hydrated inorganic compound: CeCl₃·6H₂O

We have recently reported the discovery of a family of rare-earth metal-organic single-crystal scintillators based on Ce³⁺ as the activator ion. Starting with the CeCl₃(CH₃OH)₄ prototype, this family of scintillators has recently been extended to include complex metal-organic adducts produced by reacting CeCl₃ with heavier organics (e.g., isomers of propanol and butanol). Some of these rare-earth metal-organic materials incorporated waters of hydration in their structures, and the observation of scintillation in these hydrated compounds was an original finding for any solid scintillator. In the present work, we report the observation of gamma-ray-excited scintillation in an inorganic hydrated material, namely, single-crystal monoclinic CeCl₃·6H₂O. This observation shows that the mechanisms of the various scintillation energy-transfer processes are not seriously inhibited by the presence of waters of hydration in an inorganic material and that the observation of scintillation in other hydrated inorganic compounds is not precluded.