BGO crystal is one of the most widely used scintillation materials of the oxide type. It has a high Z, high density scintillation material. Due to the high atomic number of bismuth (83) and the material's high density of 7.13 g/cm3, BGO is a very efficient gamma ray absorber. Given the high Z value of the material, the photo fraction for gamma ray absorption is high, as a result very good peak-to-total ratios are observed. Due to these features, BGO crystals are used in high-energy physics (scintillators for electromagnetic calorimeters and detecting assemblies of accelerators), spectrometry and radiometry of gamma-radiation, positron tomography.
