Well, not a "ball", but a detector. Most people are familiar with the term "Geiger counter". The Geiger counter uses a detector which consists of an enclosed gas. When radiation ionizes the gas, the ions produce an electric charge which is converted to a visual output (display, meter, etc.) and which reflects the amount of incident radiation.
Since a solid crystal is denser than air, for a given volume, the sensitivity of radiation detection is much improved. The crystals used in radiation detection don't produce a mobile charge like in a Geiger counter. Instead the crystals emit light in response to incident radiation. The light is gathered by a photoelectrode. The photoelectrode produces the electric response, proportional to the amount of light which is proportional to the amount of radiation, which is converted to a visual output.
This article discusses some work at Washington State University on crystal growth.
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