Patent Number: 
Section: claims

1. A scintillator material comprising a single crystal having a composition of the formulaA3MBr6(1-x)Cl6x, x being greater than or equal to 0 and less than or equal to 1,wherein A consists essentially of Cs; andM consists essentially of Ce. 2. The scintillator material of claim 1, having a light output of at least about four times that of BGO when excited with a gamma-ray of 662 keV. 3. A radiation detector, comprising:a scintillator material of claim 1 adapted to generate photons in response to an impinging radiation; anda photon detector optically coupled to the scintillator material, arranged to receive the photons generated by the scintillator material and adapted to generate an electrical signal indicative of the photon generation. 4. An imaging method, comprising:using at least one radiation detector of claim 3 to receive radiation from a plurality of radiation sources distributed in an object to be imaged and generate a plurality of signals indicative of the received radiation; andbased on the plurality of signals, deriving a special distribution of an attribute of the object. 5. The scintillator material of claim 1, wherein x is greater than 0 and less than 1. 6. A scintillator material comprising a single crystal having a composition of the formulaAM2Br7(1-x)Cl7x, x being greater than or equal to 0 and less than orwherein A consists essentially of Cs, andM consists essentially of Ce. 7. The scintillator material of claim 6, having a light output of at least about four times that of BGO when excited with a gamma-ray of 662 keV. 8. A radiation detector, comprising:a scintillator material of claim 6 adapted to generate photons in response to an impinging radiation; anda photon detector optically coupled to the scintillator material, arranged to receive the photons generated by the scintillator material and adapted to generate an electrical signal indicative of the photon generation. 9. An imaging method, comprising:using at least one radiation detector of claim 8 to receive radiation from a plurality of radiation sources distributed in an object to be imaged and generate a plurality of signals indicative of the received radiation; andbased on the plurality of signals, deriving a special distribution of an attribute of the object. 10. The scintillator material of claim 6, wherein x is greater than 0 and less than 1. 11. A method of making a scintillator material, the method comprising:synthesizing a compound having a composition of the formulaA3MBr6(1-x)Cl6x, x being greater than or equal to 0 and less than or equal to 1,wherein A consists essentially of Cs andM consists essentially of Ce; andgrowing a single crystal from the synthesized compound using Bridgman method. 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the synthesizing step comprises heating a mixture of a plurality of halides above their respective melting temperatures. 13. The method of claim 11, wherein x is greater than 0 and less than 1. 14. A method of making a scintillator material, the method comprising:synthesizing a compound having a composition of the formulaAM2Br7(1-x)Cl7x, x being greater than or equal to 0 and less than or equal to 1,wherein A consists essentially of Cs; andM consists essentially of Ce; andgrowing a single crystal from the synthesized compound using Bridgman method. 15. The method of claim 14, where in the synthesizing step comprises heating a mixture of a plurality of halides above their respective melting temperatures. 16. The method of claim 14, wherein x is greater than 0 and less than 1. 17. A scintillator material comprising a single crystal having a composition of the formulaAM2Br7,wherein A consists essentially of Cs, andM consists essentially of Ce.