A Study of CsI(Tl) Scintillator with Optimized Conditions of Large Area Avalanche Photodiode

Abstract

Avalanche photodiode (APD) is a kind of photodiode that internally amplifies the photocurrent by an avalanche effect. The quantum efficiency of the APD is about 80% which is five times higher than that of typical photomultiplier tube (PMT). A 16 mm diameter of beveled-edge large area avalanche photodiode (LAAPD) made by Advanced Photonics was used for the CsI(Tl) scintillator characterization. A CsI(Tl) crystal was attached to LAAPD and energy spectra were measured with various γ-ray sources. Measurements of energy spectra of the CsI(Tl) crystal to optimize the energy resolutions were performed with different shaping time constants by shaping amplifier and with different gains by high voltage variation. The absolute light yield and energy resolution of CsI(Tl) crystals were measured with the LAAPD for 662 keV γ-rays from a 137Cs source. The LAAPD was calibrated with X-ray of 55Fe source for the calibration of the number of e-h pairs per channel. The absolute light yield of newly developed SrCl2 scintillation crystal is determined by this method. This study shows that it is possible to use the LAAPD for the characterization of newly developed scintillation crystal and for the photo-sensor of scintillation detector.