Editing Scintillation (physics) (section)

== Charge transport of excited carriers ==
The second stage of scintillation is the charge transport of thermalized electrons and holes towards luminescence centers and the energy transfer to the atoms involved in the luminescence process. In this stage, the large number of electrons and holes that have been generated during the conversion process, migrate inside the material. This is probably one of the most critical phases of scintillation, since it is generally in this stage where most loss of efficiency occur due to effects such as trapping or [[non-radiative recombination]]. These are mainly caused by the presence of defects in the scintillator crystal, such as impurities, ionic vacancies, and [[Grain boundary|grain boundaries]]. The charge transport can also become a bottleneck for the timing of the scintillation process. The charge transport phase is also one of the least understood parts of scintillation and depends strongly on the type material involved and its intrinsic charge conduction properties.