II-VI compounds: generally, compounds formed by elements from II & VI groups of the Periodic table. Here we mean only binary (ZnSe, ZnS, ZnTe (also for terahertz applications), CdSe, CdS, CdTe) and ternary (like, e. g., CdZnTe or CdSSe) zinc and cadmium chalcogenides that are wide-gap semiconductors.
     Semiconductor single crystals of CdxZn1-xTe (CdZnTe, CZT, Cadmium Zinc Telluride) are important materials for the development of far-infrared, visible light, X-ray detectors, and gamma-ray detectors as medical imaging devices. CdZnTe (CZT, Cadmium Zinc Telluride) radiation detectors have the advantages of a large absorption coefficient, compact size and room temperature operation. Currently used high purity Ge and Si detectors in industry and medical imaging can only work efficiently at the liquid-nitrogen temperature.
     There are many examples of the use of CZT (CdZnTe, Cadmium Zinc Telluride) detectors in medical imaging and diagnostics, ranging from simple x-rays carried out in a dentistís office to cardiac angiography, bone densitometry measurements, and the use of nuclear medicine to pinpoint areas of activity within the brain to help characterize conditions such as epilepsy. In addition, the medical imaging community is interested in developing large area CdZnTe (CZT, Cadmium Zinc Telluride) detector arrays.
     Cadmium zinc telluride (CdZnTe) has become a key detector technology for hard x-ray and gamma ray astronomy. Astronomers use CZT (CdZnTe, Cadmium Zinc Telluride) arrays to study the origin of high-energy gamma-ray bursts. One class of astronomy instruments will use large area single focal plane array detectors in conjunction with a focusing optic. CZT (CdZnTe, Cadmium Zinc Telluride) is also suited for high-resolution measurements and isotope identification in the nuclear industry and for x-ray radiography applications. The use of single crystal CZT (CdZnTe, Cadmium Zinc Telluride) as the gamma ray detector material has allowed the production of very compact prototype imaging systems. Further applications for CZT (CdZnTe, Cadmium Zinc Telluride) gamma ray detectors include space flight gamma burst instruments , high-energy x-ray astronomy, and international nuclear inspection and safeguarding.
Zinc Selenide (ZnSe)
ZnSe is used widely for IR components, windows and lenses, and for spectroscopic ATR prisms. Zinc Selenide is one of the materials of choice for CO2 laser optics operating at 10.6 microns.

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