Pakistan Institute of Engineering & Applied Sciences (PIEAS)

Course: Radiation Interaction & Detection

Dr. Nasir M Mirza Deputy Chief Scientist,

Room # A114,
Department of Physics & Applied mathematics, PIEAS, P.O. Nilore, 45650, Islamabad.

Email: nmm@pieas.edu.pk
Ph: 092 51 9290273 (ext: 3059)

Scintillation Detector

Lecture One:

Scintillation Detector
By: Office: Office Phone: Email: Dr. Nasir M Mirza Block A (Room Number, A -144) extension, 3059 nmm@pieas.edu.pk

Text Books for the Course:

1. Glenn F Knoll s Radiation Detection & Measurement (recent edition) (this shall be the main text for the course). 2. W.J. Prices Nuclear Radiation detection, McGraw Hill Book Company.

Scintillation Scintillation
Flash of light (Visible)
From radiation detection point of view---flash of light produced from excited atoms as a result of radiation interaction

Luminescence
Usually occurs at low temperatures and is thus a form of cold body radiation.

Scintillation Scintillation
Detection of ionization radiation by scintillation light produced in a material is one of the oldest technique on record (for example ZnS screens were used initially as detectors);
Common scintillation materials include NaI(Tl), CsI(Tl), CsI(Na), Li(Eu), ZnS, Ca2F, BaF2, glassScintillators, and plastic Scintillators;

Scintillation

(Contd.)

One of the earliest means of measuring radiation

Rutherford experiments (alpha particle scattering) used zinc sulphide crystals as the primary detector of radiation Used his eye to see the flickers when alpha struck zinc sulphide
Now-a-days Photo-Multiplier-Tube (PMT) is used;

Photo-Emissive Processes Fluorescence: A luminescence that is mostly found as an optical phenomenon in cold bodies, in which the molecular absorption of a photon triggers the emission of another photon with a longer wavelength. Phosphorescence: A delayed luminescence, that is, a luminescence that persists after removal of the exciting source. It is sometimes called afterglow. Corresponds to light of longer wavelength than fluorescence Delayed Florescence: Delayed emission than fluorescence & Light of equal wavelength to fluorescence

Properties of Good Scintillator It should convert the Kinetic Energy (K.E.) of charged particles into detectable light with a high scintillation efficiency; This conversion should be linear the light yield should be proportional to deposited energy over as wide range as possible; The medium should be transparent to the wavelength of its own emission for good light collection;

Properties of Good Scintillator

(Contd.)

The decay time of the induced luminescence should be short so that fast signal pulses can be generated; The material should be of good optical quality and subject to manufacture in sizes large enough to be of interest as a practical detector; Its index of refraction should be near that of glass (n ~ 1.5) to permit efficient coupling of the scintillation light to a PMT or other light sensor

Properties of Good Scintillator

(Contd.)

No material simultaneously meets all these criteria---the choice is a compromise

Most widely applied scintillator are

Inorganic Alkali Halides

Organic based Liquids and Plastics

Properties of Good Scintillator Property Light Output yield Light emission response Z Number Inorganic Scintillator more Slow high

(Contd.)

Organic Scintillator Less fast Low Beta and neutrons

Radiation spectroscopy Gamma rays

Mode of Operation of Scintillator Detectors

Mostly used in pulse mode

Advantages of using in pulse mode are:

Setting small time constant can eliminate the unwanted phosphorescence and delayed fluorescence

Current mode scintillator detectors used where radiation intensity changes rapidly and will suffer from after glow effects if long lived decay components are significant

Organic Scintillators
Fluorescence in organics is due to transitions in the energy levels of a single molecule

And it is independent of physical state of the organic scintillation material

Example is Anthracene where solid or vapor will do the fluorescence.

However, inorganic Scintillators (such as NaI(Tl) do need a regular crystal structure as a basis to emit scintillations.

Organic Scintillators
Large category of organic Scintillators are based on organic molecules with some symmetry properties and this gives rise to -electron structure of organic molecules;
Singlet states (spin 0): S0, S1, S2, ... Triplet states (Spin 1): T1, T2, T3, ... Energy spacing is generally of the order of S1 - S0 ~ 3 - 4 eV S3 - S2< S2 - S1< S1 - S0

Organic Scintillators
Vibrational states of molecules
S00, S01, S02 , S10, S11, S12 First subscript is for main energy state and second is for vibrational state. S01 - S00 ~ 0.15 eV However, the thermal energy is 0.025 eV which is much smaller than 0.15eV so all molecules at room temperature are at S00 ground state.

(Contd.)

Types of Organic Scintillators

Pure Organic Crystals

Liquid Organic Solution

Plastic Scintillator Thin Film Scintillator

Loaded Organic Scintillator

Types of Organic Scintillators Pure Organic Crystals

Anthracene

(Contd.)

One of the oldest organic material having highest scintillation efficiency

Stilbene It has lower scintillation efficiency Used for pulse shape discrimination Both Materials are fragile and difficult to obtain in larger sizes Scintillation efficiency is dependent on orientation of ionizing particles with respect to crystal axis (20-30% directional variation) which spoil energy resolution They get damaged by exposure to radiation

Types of Organic Scintillators

(Contd.)

Liquid Organic Scintillators

Binary (Solvent + Scintillator)
Tertiary (Solvent + Scintillator + Wave-Shifter) Commercially available in sealed glass containers Detectors of any size, shape and cost can be made Sometimes radioactive material is dissolved in L.S. and counted with 100% efficiency (C14, H3 etc.) Problems with L.S.-------if there is dissolved O2 then there is quenching problem (so containers in which L.S. is to be kept should be purged from O2)

Types of Organic Scintillators

(Contd.)

Plastic Scintillators
Organic scintillator polymerized dissolved in solvent is

Large volume solid Scintillators of low cost can be made, but large size may cause some problem of attenuation of light Available as rods, sheets, cylinders etc. Small size solid Scintillators---available as single fiber, group of fibers----as bundles, ribbons etc. Radiation damage may cause decrease in light output or decrease in the light transmission

Types of Organic Scintillators

(Contd.)

Thin Film Scintillator

Films ~ 20 g/cm2 or 10 m can be prepared
Can be used for particles of lowest range (heavy ions) They act as transmission detectors Applied in fast timing measurements

Types of Organic Scintillators

(Contd.)

Loaded Organic Scintillators

Organic Scintillators are generally used for the detection of alpha, beta and fast neutrons For gamma rays detections, high Z materials are added By adding high Z material, photo peak efficiency can be made relatively high, fast response can be attained and also they are of low cost as compared to conventional gamma ray scitillators But, light output is reduced and resolution is degraded For detection of neutrons, high neutron cross section materials (Boron, Lithium, Gadolinium) are added

NaI(Tl) Scintillator
Pure Crystal NaI Interaction of radiation results in UV photons It can operate at liquid nitrogen temperature Activated Crystal NaI(Tl)

Small amount (~ 10-3 mole fraction) of Thallium is added as an activator in high purity NaI;
Interaction of radiation-----visible photons are emitted; Operate at room temperature;

NaI(Tl) Scintillator
Properties

(Contd.)

Large ingots can be grown from high purity sodium iodide

Can be machined into different shapes and sizes

Scintillators of usual size or shape can also be fabricated by pressing small crystallites together Excellent light yield Small non-proportionality of scintillation response with deposited electron energy. The departure from proportionality is most pronounced at low energies Crystal is fragile----can easily be damaged by mechanical or thermal shocks Hygroscopic---deteriorate due to water absorption (therefore canned in air tight containers for normal use);

NaI(Tl) Scintillator

(Contd.)

Decay time of scintillation pulse is 230 ns which is long for fast timing or high counting rate applications Phosphorescence with 0.15 s decay time which contribute 9% of overall light yield High Temperature Operation Scintillation yield is dropped with increasing temperature, results in poor energy resolution Decay time decreases with increase in temperature, give faster response at higher temperatures

NaI(Tl) Scintillator Radiation Damage Effects

(Contd.)

Reduction of transparency: caused by the creation of color centers that absorb scintillation light Interference with processes that give rise to the emission of the scintillation light itself

Radiation exposures can also induce long-lived light emission in the form of phosphorescence that can be troublesome in some measurements
Radiation damage are often observed to be rate dependent and vary greatly with type of radiation involved

Introduction of PMT
This device is used to convert weak light signal from scintillator (few hundred photons) to a corresponding electrical signal without adding a large amount of noise

Simplified structure of a typical PMT

Outer envelope is made of glass; It sustain vacuum conditions inside the tube and serves as pressure boundary

PMT

Base

Crystal

Introduction of PMT
Photocathode

(Contd.)

Convert light photon to low energy electrons called photoelectrons A few hundred in number Charge too small to serve as electrical signal
Electron Multiplier Section (Dynode)

Provide an efficient geometry for photoelectrons Serve as an amplifier Multiply the electrons 1071010 electrons per photon
Output Stage Anode

Collect electrons Give output voltage pulse

Introduction of PMT
Linear Behavior
Output pulse remains proportional to number of original photoelectrons

(Contd.)

Timing Information
Most of the information of original light pulse is retained Electrons are produced within 20 50 ns after light photon

Photocathode
Photoemission
The conversion of incident light photon into electrons is called photo-emission

3 stages of photo-emission process

1. Absorption of incident photon and transfer of energy to an electron within the photo emissive material 2. Migration of the electron to surface of photocathode 3. Escape of the electron from the surface of the cathode

Photocathode
Energy requirements: Step 1 The energy of a scintillation photon (~ 3 eV) is absorbed Step 2 Some of energy is lost in e e collisions in migration process. Step 3

(Contd.)

The remaining should be greater than work function (~ 1.5 2 eV) of the material;
Min. energy of photon must be greater than the potential barrier Surface barrier must be low to maximize escape electrons; Rate of energy loss of migrating electron must be small to maximize escape depth;

Electron Multiplication
Multiplication factor The overall multiplication factor of a single dynode is defined as (typical value is 5):

(Contd.)

# of secondary electrons emitted # of primary electrons incident

Then the Overall gain of a PM tube having N stages is

overall gain N
Where, is fraction of all photoelectrons collected by the multiplier structure (typical value is 1) and N is number of stages.

Various Configurations

Scintillation Detector & PMT