Updated 07/02/01

[ Conference Scope | Main Topics | General Aspect] 

Conference Scope

A large intellectual and financial effort has been made in the field of inorganic scintillators over the past years. Several groups have combined their efforts in international and multidisciplinary collaborations in order to coordinate the fundamental studies on scintillation mechanisms and radiation induced effects. A series of international conferences has been organized on inorganic scintillators and their applications in different areas. The first one, CRYSTAL 2000, took place in September 1992 in Chamonix, France. It was followed by the Scintillator and Phosphor Symposium of the Materials Research Society in San Francisco, USA, in April 1994, SCINT95 in Delft, The Netherlands, in August 1995, SCINT97, in Shanghai, China, in September 1997, and SCINT99 in Moscow, Russia, in August 1999. All these conferences have met a great success, with important presentations made on newly discovered crystals, basic phenomena in scintillators and impressive applications.

Time has come now to go back to Chamonix, to discuss and define after nearly ten years, the present status and the new directions to be given to this important area of detector developments.

As for the past conferences, we will try to organize discussions and exchange of views between the three communities which are playing an essential role in the development of scintillators:

1. the experts in different aspects of material science, in charge of the fundamental research, an essential key for the improvement of existing scintillators and for the development of new ones,

2. the users in different areas, confronted to the challenging task of designing and building detectors of ever increasing performance for physics, medical and industrial applications,

3. the crystal growth industries, exploring the technologies for the production of crystals of the highest quality.

We would like as usual to encourage contributions covering all these aspects, but with a specific emphasis this time on medical applications of scintillators, a rapidly expanding field in which impressive progress has been made recently. In particular we intend to have invited talks addressing the new challenges for functional medical imaging and the role that a new generation of scintillators and the related technologies can play in this area. A specific session on this subject will be organized. 

We are also very much concerned about the importance of the synergy between the communities of the user's and commercial suppliers of scintillators. For this reason we will strongly encourage industries to participate and to play an active role in the conference. Not only an industrial exhibition will be organized but we will invite contributions  on the technical and commercial aspect of the developments and production of scintillators, and we intend to have round table discussions with industrial representative.

Main Topics

The main topics to be covered are:

General Aspect (updated 07/02/01)

As explained in Conference Scope, the conference is intended for Experts and Users of inorganic scintillators in the mentioned fields and relevant production firms. The attendance will be limited to 250 participants. The conference Registration is now opened. Please, register before June 15^th.
See Registration procedure.

The conference will take place in Chamonix, Haute-Savoie, France. Known throughout the world as the capital of mountaineering, Chamonix welcomed its first visitors in 1741 and was in 1924 the host town to the first Winter Olympics. Dominated by the Mont Blanc (4810m), the moderate (1035m) altitude of the valley allows Chamonix to benefit from a relatively mild climate and from easy access (see Information on Chamonix).

All the sessions will be organised at the Chamonix Congress Center "Le Majestic". Former palatial hotel built at the turn of the century, the Majestic ceased to function as an hotel at the end of the second world war. It has retained an atmosphere of nostalgia and history marked by the visits of all the crowned heads of Europe. In addition to the 400- place main conference room, meeting rooms will be available for working groups. A large room will be devoted to exhibition of industrial products (see practical information).

All the participants will be housed in nearby hotels within 10’ walking distance. Hotel accommodation is dealt with by the "Office du Tourisme" of Chamonix. For reservation, please goto the Online hotel reservation.

The check-in at the conference will start on Sunday 16^th at 16h and the lectures will begin on Monday, 17^th at 9h and end on Friday, 21^st at ~16h. The conference will be organised in plenary and poster sessions. If necessary, parallel sessions will be organized on specific aspects, with a summary report. To be considered, the contributions should be announced to the organizers by their Title and Abstract before 15^th of March, 2001. See Registration procedure.

Attention : Even if  you have pre-registered, you also need to register before june15th.