Scintillating Glass Fiber Arrays Enable Remote Radiation Detection and Pixelated Imaging

The emerging metal halide perovskites are challenging the traditional scintillators in the field of radiation detection and radiography. However, they lack the capability for remote and real-time radiation monitoring and imaging in confined and hostile conditions. To address this issue, details on an inorganic scintillating glass fiber incorporating perovskite quantum dots (QDs) as highly efficient pixelated radiation emitters are reported, while the glass fibers themselves serve at the same time as low-loss waveguides, enabling long-distance and underwater X-ray detection. The multi-color emissions and controllable radiation sensitivities endow CsPbX₃ (X = Cl, Br, I) QD scintillating glass fibers with the potential as wearable and visualized radiation indicators. Furthermore, these scintillating glass fibers can be regularly arranged into a fiber array plate with a thickness of 7.5 mm to enhance X-ray absorption for X-ray imaging. Leveraging the light-guiding character of glass fibers, a 5 × 5 fiber array with fiber lengths up to 11 cm has demonstrated the potential of remote pixelated X-ray imaging. This study offers a novel platform for the development of remote detectors and imagers for X-ray radiation.