A compact detector system for simultaneous measurements of the light yield non-linearity and timing properties of scintillators.

This work presents an outline of a detection system that employs the Compton spectrometer method to assess the non-linearity of scintillator light yield. A novel approach is introduced, leading to more accurate measurements through the separate determination of the intrinsic light output parameters and the non-linearity of the scintillators. Key features of this system include the use of a portable scintillation detector with three photomultiplier tubes for precise measurement of the average number of detected photoelectrons and the incorporation of recent advancements in correction techniques for accidental coincidences. The integration of digital acquisition, offline data analysis, and geometric adaptation reduces the time required to perform a measurement. The developed detector can simultaneously measure different timing properties, as well as the relative intensities following ionization excitation in a scintillator. The system's performance is demonstrated through measurements of the light yield dependence on the deposited energy for commercially available liquid, plastic, and inorganic scintillators. Such instrumentation serves as a valuable tool in the development of novel scintillating materials, including liquid or solid organic scintillators, inorganic scintillators, and composite scintillators for electron detection, in addition to traditional X-ray or γ -ray detection.

Time-domain based evaluation of detection efficiency in liquid scintillation counting.

This work explores the distribution of time intervals between signals from the photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) of a liquid scintillation counting (LSC) system when a scintillation burst caused by an ionizing particle is detected. This distribution is termed the cross-correlation distribution and it is shown that it contains information about the probability to detect a scintillation event. A theoretical model that describes the cross-correlation distribution is derived. The model can be used to estimate the mean number of detected photons in a LSC measurement, which allows the calculation of the detection efficiency. The theoretical findings are validated by Monte Carlo simulations and by experiments with low-energy beta-emitting and electron-capture radionuclides ([Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text]), with dedicated LSC systems and several commercial LSC cocktails. The results show that some of the parameters of the cross-correlation distribution such as the peak height or the kurtosis can be used as detection efficiency estimators or quenching indicators in LSC. Thus, although the time domain and the cross-correlation distribution have received little to no attention in the practice of LSC, they have the capacity to bring significant improvements in almost all LSC applications related to activity determination of low-energy beta-emitting and electron-capture radionuclides. The results also suggest concepts for the development of innovative LSC systems.

Measurement of the half-life of excited nuclear states using liquid scintillation counting.

This work presents measurements of the half-lives of excited nuclear states of 237Np and 57Fe using a liquid scintillation (LS) spectrometer and a gamma detector. A novel approach for the determination of the half-lives of some excited states is presented which uses only LS counting data from a detector with two PMTs. The lifetime of the 1st and 2nd excited states of 57Fe were obtained without the use of a gamma detector. The obtained value for the 59.54 keV level of 237Np is 67.60(25) ns. The obtained values for the 14.4 keV and 136.5 keV levels of 57Fe are 97.90(40) ns and 8.780(36) ns, respectively. The half-life results from this study are consistent with the average value found in the reference decay data tables and have a lower uncertainty.

Partition Coefficients and Diffusion Lengths of 222Rn in Some Polymers at Different Temperatures.

In this work, the partition coefficients K and diffusion lengths L D of radon in some polymers are experimentally determined for several temperatures in the range T = 5-31 °C. Some of the obtained values are compared to published data available for the given temperatures. It is shown that the temperature dependencies of the partition coefficients K ( T ) , the diffusion lengths L D ( T ) , and the permeabilities P ( T ) could be described analytically for the studied temperature range 5-31 °C. This allows estimation of these quantities in the given temperature range and quantitative description of the transport of radon in the studied polymers.