Intrinsic radioactivity of KSr₂I₅:Eu²⁺

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• 作者：M. Rust ; C. Melcher ; E. Lukosi ; ^{elukosi@utk.edu" class="auth_mail" title="E-mail the corresponding author}
• 关键词：KSr2I5 ; Scintillator ; Energy resolution ; Gamma-ray detection ; Nuclear security ; Intrinsic radioactivity
• 刊名：Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
• 出版年：2016
• 出版时间：11 October 2016
• 年：2016
• 卷：833
• 期：Complete
• 页码：33-37
• 全文大小：1556 K

文摘

A current need in nuclear security is an economical, yet high energy resolution (near 2%), scintillation detector suitable for gamma-ray spectroscopy. For current scintillators on the market, there is an inverse relationship between scintillator energy resolution and cost of production. A new promising scintillator, KSr₂I₅:Eu²⁺, under development at the University of Tennessee, has achieved an energy resolution of 2.4% at 662 keV at room temperature, with potential growth rates exceeding several millimeters per hour. However, the internal background due to the ⁴⁰K content could present a hurdle for effective source detection/identification in nuclear security applications. As a first step in addressing this question, this paper reports on a computational investigation of the intrinsic differential pulse height spectrum (DPHS) generated by ⁴⁰K within the KSr₂I₅:Eu²⁺ scintillator as a function of crystal geometry. It was found that the DPHS remains relatively equal to a constant multiplicative factor of the negatron emission spectrum with a direct increase of the 1.46 MeV photopeak relative height to the negatron spectrum with volume. Further, peak pileup does not readily manifest itself for practical KSr₂I₅:Eu²⁺ volumes.