Impact of micro and nano aluminium on the efficiency of photon detectors

Abstract

Both Micro 0.5 µm and Zero valent aluminum nanoparticles 30 nm were prepared by Arc discharge technique to evaluate the efficiency of radiation detectors, where the protective layer from bulk aluminum gamma is replaced by nanoparticle aluminum layer. As well known the efficiency of the detector depends on the number of photons reach the sensitive volume of the detector. To achieve this aim Micro and nano aluminum samples were prepared, and their linear attenuation coefficients (LAC) were experimentally determined. The LAC of micro Al was compared with theoretical values obtained from XCOM and the results proved that the experimental data could adequately be used to evaluate the shielding ability of the Al samples. The results also demonstrated that at all energies, nano Al had a lower LAC. This means in the case of nano Al, the absorption of photons is lower compared to the presence of micro Al. The ratio between the number of counts in the presence of an aluminum sample (micro and nano) to the number of counts in the absence of sample was calculated. At low, moderate, and high energies and it showed that nano Al had a greater and better ratio at all energy ranges. Thus, it was concluded that aluminum nanoparticles can be used sufficiently in detectors instead of aluminum microparticles (Al-Protecting layer) to enhance their ability to detect incoming photons, especially at low energies.

Keywords

• Arc discharge
• Zero valent aluminium nanoparticles
• LAC
• HVL
• Detector efficiency