Improving light extraction from heavy inorganic scintillators by photonic crystals

The impact of photonic crystal (PhC) slabs on the light extraction from heavy inorganic scintillators is reviewed. It is shown by means of simulations with a scattering-matrix algorithm that a PhC slab does change the extraction properties of the scintillator in a positive way; in particular, it permits the extraction of photons that hit the exit surface at an angle that is larger than the angle of total reflection of a plain surface. By combining these results with results from LITRANI simulations on the light propagation in scintillators, a model is developed that allows for calculating the light collection efficiency ηL of a scintillator with PhC coupling face. It is shown that such a scintillator can exhibit a gain in ηL of up to 100% relative to a scintillator with plain exit surface.