Bismuth germanate (BGO, chemical formula Bi₄Ge₃O₁₂ (evlitine structure) or the less common type Bi₁₂GeO₂₀) is an inorganic chemical compound with main use as a scintillator. It forms cubic crystals. General Name, Symbol, Number bismuth, Bi, 83 Chemical series poor metals Group, Period, Block 15, 6, p Appearance lustrous reddish white Atomic mass 208. ... General Name, Symbol, Number germanium, Ge, 32 Chemical series metalloids Group, Period, Block 14, 4, p Appearance grayish white Atomic mass 72. ... General Name, Symbol, Number oxygen, O, 8 Chemical series Nonmetals, chalcogens Group, Period, Block 16, 2, p Appearance colorless (gas) very pale blue (liquid) Atomic mass 15. ... A scintillator is a device or substance that absorbs high energy (ionizing) electromagnetic or charged particle radiation then, in response, fluoresces photons at a characteristic Stokes-shifted (longer) wavelength, releasing the previously absorbed energy. ... In crystallography, the cubic crystal system (or isometric crystal system) is the most symmetric of the 7 crystal systems. ...

When subjected to high energy gamma rays, bismuth germanate emits photons of wavelengths between 375-650 nm, with peak at 480 nm. It produces about 8500 photons per megaelectronvolt of the high energy radiation absorbed. It has good radiation hardness (parameters remaining stable up to 5.10⁴ Gy), high scintillation efficiency, good energy resolution between 5-20 MeV, is mechanically strong, and is not hygroscopic. It has very high density, 7.13 g/cm³ and a high Z value. Its melting point is 1050 °C. It is the most common oxide-based scintillator. This article is about electromagnetic radiation. ... The word light is defined here as electromagnetic radiation of any wavelength; thus, X-rays, gamma rays, ultraviolet light, microwaves, radio waves, and visible light are all forms of light. ... The wavelength is the distance between repeating units of a wave pattern. ... An electronvolt (symbol: eV) is the amount of energy gained by a single unbound electron when it falls through an electrostatic potential difference of one volt. ... In telecommunication, the term nuclear hardness has the following meanings: An expression of the extent to which the performance of a system, facility, or device is expected to degrade in a given nuclear environment. ... The gray (symbol: Gy) is the SI unit of absorbed dose. ... A hygroscopic substance is a substance that absorbs water readily from its surroundings. ...

Bismuth germanate is used in detectors in particle physics, aerospace physics, nuclear medicine, geology exploration, and other industries. Bismuth germanate arrays are used for gamma pulse spectroscopy. BGO crystals are also used in positron emission tomography detectors. Thousands of particles explode from the collision point of two relativistic (100 GeV per nucleon) gold ions in the STAR detector of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. ... Look up aerospace in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Bone scintigraphy of a young woman. ... Image of a typical positron emission tomography (PET) facility Positron emission tomography (PET) is a nuclear medicine medical imaging technique which produces a three dimensional image or map of functional processes in the body. ...

Commercially available crystals are grown by the Czochralski process and usually supplied in the form of cuboids or cylinders. Large crystals can be obtained. The Czochralski process is a method of crystal growth used to obtain single crystals of semiconductors (e. ... In anatomy, the cuboid bone is a bone in the foot. ...

Bismuth germanate has high electro-optic coefficients, making it useful in nonlinear optics for building Pockels cells, and can also be used for photorefractive devices for ultraviolet range. Nonlinear optics is the branch of optics that describes the behaviour of light in nonlinear media, that is, media in which the polarization P responds nonlinearly to the electric field E of the light. ... The Pockels effect, or Pockels electro-optic effect, is the production of birefringence in an optical medium induced by a slowly-varying electric field. ... The photorefractive effect is a nonlinear optical effect seen in certain crystals and other materials that respond to light by altering their refractive index. ... Ultraviolet (UV) light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than that of visible light, but longer than soft X-rays. ...

External links

• Bismuth germanate data sheet
• Scintillation crystals

External links

• Links to external chemical sources.