This paper may help make X-ray imaging better, via its study of a material from which X-ray detectors can be made. X-rays are challenging to detect efficiently, particularly at the very hard end of the energy spectrum. Their ability to penetrate optically-opaque samples, which is so valuable in medical and non-destructive imaging contexts, also makes them "hard to catch." Observe the trade-off: X-rays interact sufficiently weak enough to pass through matter that blocks lower-energy photons, but upon transmission through a sample, the X-ray photons are liable to see your detector as semi-transparent too! From a more fundamental perspective, there are physical limitations at work here. It is hard to make pixel-sized chunks of matter absorb X-ray photons to any appreciable degree; then there is the question of robustness with respect to radiation damage, so it goes on. There is plenty of room for improvement in X-ray imaging detectors. The problem is important, and this paper on perovksite glass scintillators may well take us towards genuine improvements in this space.

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