Secondary-electron emission

The secondary electron emission (SEE) process from solids is, in some cases, a very efficient mechanism of converting radiation to detectable electronic charges. It is exploited for radiation detection purposes, and has been studied extensively in our group for many years. Basic x-ray, electron and ion-induced secondary electron emission properties of alkali halides (e.g. CsI) and CVD diamond films have been investigated experimentally. This included the development of x-ray and neutron imaging detectors based on solid convertors coupled to gaseous electron multipliers, for real-time imaging under high radiation flux. A potential application to Transition Radiation Detection (TRD) was proposed. A theoretical model of radiation-induced secondary electron emission from alkali-halides was developed, based on microscopic approaches and Monte-Carlo simulation calculations.