Development of an energy and efficiency calibration method for stilbene scintillators

Chanho Kim; Jaehyo Kim; Wooseong Hong; Jung-Yeol Yeom; Geehyun Kim

Nuclear Engineering and Technology (Oct 2022)

Development of an energy and efficiency calibration method for stilbene scintillators

Chanho Kim,
Jaehyo Kim,
Wooseong Hong,
Jung-Yeol Yeom,
Geehyun Kim

Affiliations

Chanho Kim: Department of Bio-Convergence Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea; Department of Bioengineering, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea
Jaehyo Kim: Department of Energy Systems Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea
Wooseong Hong: Department of Energy Systems Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea
Jung-Yeol Yeom: Department of Bio-Convergence Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea; Department of Bioengineering, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea; School of Biomedical Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea; Interdisciplinary Program in Precision Public Health, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea; Corresponding author. Department of Bio-Convergence Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea.
Geehyun Kim: Department of Energy Systems Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea; Department of Nuclear Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea; Institute of Engineering Research, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea; Corresponding author. Department of Energy Systems Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea.

Journal volume & issue: Vol. 54, no. 10
pp. 3833 – 3840

Abstract

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A method for calibrating the energy scale and detection efficiency of stilbene scintillators is presented herein. This method can be used to quantitatively analyze the Compton continuum of gamma-ray spectra obtained using such scintillators. First, channel–energy calibration was conducted by fitting a semiempirical equation for the Compton continuum to the acquired energy spectrum and a new method to evaluate the intrinsic detection efficiency, called intrinsic Compton efficiency, of stilbene scintillators was proposed. The validity of this method was verified by changing experimental conditions such as the number of sources being measured simultaneously and the detector–source distance. According to the energy calibration, the standard error for the estimated Compton edge position was ±1.56 keV. The comparison of the intrinsic Compton efficiencies calculated from the single- and two-source spectra showed that the mean absolute difference and the mean absolute percentage difference are 0.031 %p and 0.557%, respectively, demonstrating reasonable accuracy of this method. The feasibility of the method was confirmed for an energy range of 0.5–1.5 MeV, showing that stilbene scintillators can be used to quantitatively analyze gamma rays in mixed-radiation fields.

Published in Nuclear Engineering and Technology

ISSN: 1738-5733 (Print)
Publisher: Elsevier
Country of publisher: Korea, Republic of
LCC subjects: Technology: Electrical engineering. Electronics. Nuclear engineering: Nuclear engineering. Atomic power
Website: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/nuclear-engineering-and-technology

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