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Lectures on Radiation Detection Delivered in Professional Training Course at PNRA (April, 2008)
Dr. Nasir M Mirza Deputy Chief Scientist, Department of Physics & Applied mathematics, PIEAS, P.O. Nilore, 45650, Islamabad. Email: nmm@pieas.edu.pk Ph: +92 51 9290273 (ext: 3059)
Lecture One:
Recommended Text Books 1. Glenn F Knoll s Radiation Detection & Measurement (recent edition).
Simple Detector
It Must convert energy into charge via interaction of radiation with detector Heavy charged particle (fission fragment) or electrons (beta)Coulomb interactions create electron-ion (ionization) pairs if sufficient energy is transferred to orbital electrons Gamma rays-interact to transfer energy to electrons
Photoelectric effect
Compton Scattering Pair Production
Neutrons -no charge. Must convert neutron energy to a secondary particle that can create charge
Neutron capture and alpha emission.
Source
Shield
Detector
(Contd.)
Collection time shows the mobility and average distance covered (to be collected at electrodes) of the charge carriers Output of our detector current flowing for time equal to that of charge collection An obvious thing about the charge collected is
Q i (t )dt
0
tc
(Contd.)
i(t)
Q i(t )dt
0
tc
Time, t
tc
(Contd.)
If irradiation rate is high then overlapping of such pulses can take place In case of low irradiation rate, one pulse processed at a time (simplified case easy to understand) Magnitude and duration of each current pulse may vary depending upon type of interaction Time intervals between successive current pulses are also randomly distributed
(Contd.)
i(t)
Time, t
Current pulse from detector is connected to preamplifier with characteristic resistance and capacitance
Current Mode
Pulse Mode
Current Mode
For a fixed response time T and sequence of events, time dependent current will be t 1 I t I t dt T t T Normally T is greater as compared to average time between individual current pulses Larger T to minimize statistical fluctuations in the signal but slows the response
E I o rQ r q W
Current Mode
An average current is recorded which is given by:
(Contd.)
I o rQ r
Where, r event rate Q charge produced for each event
E q W
E= Average energy deposited per event W Average energy required to produce a unit charge pair (i.e. electron ion pair) q 1.6x10-19 C
Current Mode
Used for high count rate events
(Contd.)
Largely applied in the field of radiation dosimetery For steady state irradiation of detector, average current can also be written as the I = Io + i(t)
Here i(t) is a random time-dependent variable due to random nature of radiation events interacting in detector
Current Mode
Fractional standard deviation =
I
(Contd.)
t
Io
n n rT n n rT
Comparing both fractional standard deviations gives
I t n Io n
Current Mode
Which simplifies to
(Contd.)
rQ r I t Q T rT rT
Io
(Eqn. A)
This result is useful in estimating the uncertainty associated with a given current mode measurement
Average current is blocked whereas fluctuations in current are taken into account
MSV Mode
I(t)
(Contd.)
Io
Time, t
MSV Mode
(Contd.)
The output is the square of standard deviation Using Equation (A), we get
t
I
r 2 Q T
True application of MSV mode in mixed mode environment Simple current mode will equally weight mixed radiation MSV mode will square the charge produced by individual radiation MSV mode enhances relativly large amplitude and is mostly used in reactor instrumentation
Pulse Mode
Used when we need to preserve the information on amplitude and timing of individual event
Detector
V(t)
Pulse Mode
In the figure
R input resistance of current
(Contd.)
= R C. It is the time required to charge the capacitor, through the resistor, to 63.2 (~ 63) percent of full charge; or to discharge it to 36.8 (~ 37) percent of its initial voltage.
Two extreme cases are discussed
RC << tc
RC >> tc
Pulse Mode
V(t)
(Contd.)
Case 1:
tc
Time, t
The Signal voltage V(t) for the case of small time constant load current.
Pulse Mode
V(t)
(Contd.)
Case 2:
RC >> tc
Vmax = Q/C
tc
Time, t
The Signal voltage V(t) for the case of large time constant load current.
Timing information ( in case when timing info is more important then accurate energy information)
(Contd.)
The time to reach the maximum is characterized by the detector (means charge collection time)
The trailing edge is circuit dependent as time to drop the signal voltage to zero depends on time constant of circuit
Q = CVmax OR Vmax = Q/C
(Contd.)
Advantages of Pulse Mode Operation Pulse mode is the most common choice of radiation detector operation because:
Its Sensitivity is much larger than Current or MSV mode as each single quantum of energy is detected separately; Pulse amplitude carries information of energy and charge; hence spectroscopy is possible; However in MSV mode this amplitude is averaged over time so information about energy is lost.
Pulse Collection
RC=time constant for pre-amplifier tc=charge collection time in detector
RC<<tc Circuit responds fast compared to charge collection time. Voltage across circuit looks like pulse from detector RC>>tc Circuit responds slow compared to charge collection time. Little current flow in circuit as charge collects. Amplitude of signal pulse proportional to charge created.