Scintillator materials, as well as related systems, and methods of detection using the same, are described herein. The scintillator material composition may comprise a Tl-based scintillator material. For example, the composition may comprise a thallium-based halide. Such materials have been shown to have particularly attractive scintillation properties and may be used in a variety of applications for detection radiation.

A scintillator, a preparation method therefor, and an application thereof are disclosed wherein the scintillator has a chemical formula of Tl.sub.aA.sub.bB.sub.c:yCe, wherein: A is at least one rare earth element selected from trivalent rare earth elements; B is at least one halogen element selected from halogen elements; a=1, b=2 and c=7, a=2, b=1 and c=5, or a=3, b=1 and c=6; and y is greater than or equal to 0 and less than or equal to 0.5. According to another embodiment, the scintillator has a chemical formula of Tl.sub.aA.sub.bB.sub.c:yEu, wherein: A is an alkaline earth metal element; B is a halogen element; a=1, b=2 and c=5, or a=1, b=1 and c=3; and y is greater than or equal to 0 mol % and less than or equal to 50 mol %.

The present disclosure discloses, in one arrangement, a scintillator material made of a metal halide with one or more additional group-13 elements. An example of such a compound is Ce:LaBr.sub.3 with thallium (Tl) added, either as a codopant or in a stoichiometric admixture and/or solid solution between LaBr.sub.3 and TlBr. In another arrangement, the above single crystalline iodide scintillator material can be made by first synthesizing a compound of the above composition and then forming a single crystal from the synthesized compound by, for example, the Vertical Gradient Freeze method. Applications of the scintillator materials include radiation detectors and their use in medical and security imaging.