Heliyon (Oct 2022)

A closer look at the efficiency calibration of LaBr3(Ce) and NaI(Tl) scintillation detectors using MCNPX for various types of nuclear investigations

  • Ghada ALMisned,
  • Hesham M.H. Zakaly,
  • Fatema T. Ali,
  • Shams A.M. Issa,
  • Antoaneta Ene,
  • Gokhan Kilic,
  • V. Ivanov,
  • H.O. Tekin

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8, no. 10
p. e10839

Abstract

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The nuclear spectroscopy method has long been used for advanced studies on nuclear physics. In order to decrease costs and increase the efficiency of nuclear radiation investigations, quick and efficient solutions are required. The purpose of this research was to calculate the whole energy peak efficiency values for a range of gamma-ray energies, from 30.973 keV to 1408 keV, at various source-detector distances using the MCNPX Monte Carlo code, which is extensively used in nuclear medicine, industry, and scientific research. As a result, the modeled detectors' full-energy peak efficiencies were calculated and compared to both experimental data and Monte Carlo simulations. Experiment results and prior studies using Monte Carlo simulations were found to be very consistent with these results. The counting efficiency against source-detector distance is then calculated using the modeled detectors. The data we have show that LaBr3(Ce) has outstanding detection properties. This study’s findings might be used to improve the design of detectors for use in wide range of high-tech gamma spectroscopy and nuclear research applications.

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