Manganese Halide‐Based Glass‐Ceramic Scintillator for Ultra‐Stable and Multi‐Functional X‐Ray Imaging in Extreme Environments

Abstract Glass scintillator (GS), due to its properties of ultra‐stability and facile large‐area fabrication, exhibits superior adaptability for X‐ray detection in extreme environments, such as space, ocean, deep‐earth, and reactor applications. However, current GS face challenges such as non‐uniform luminescence and severe thermal quenching, which significantly restrict their practical application in extreme environments. To address these challenges, an Al 4 B 2 O 9 :3% MnBr 2 GS is designed with Mn‐Br polyhedral units as the luminescent centers. Compared to conventional Mn‐doped systems forming Mn‐O polyhedra, the Mn‐Br polyhedral units exhibited superior thermal stability due to the formation of a lower phonon energy and defect density. Second, the Mn‐Br polyhedral units effectively facilitated the formation of small, uniform nanocrystals, enabling the GS to achieve uniform luminescence over large areas. Furthermore, the precipitated nanocrystals demonstrate compositional similarity to the glass matrix with a small refractive index mismatch, endowing the GS with higher optical transmittance and thereby improving imaging resolution. Finally, by leveraging the temperature‐dependent luminescence difference of the tetrahedral and octahedral units, GS is further integrated with temperature detection functionality, thereby expanding its multi‐functional detection characteristics. It is firmly believed that this study provides a valuable research idea for designing ultra‐stable, multi‐functional GS operating under harsh conditions.