Experiences with the Ge(Li) detector for high-resolution gamma ray spectrometry and a practical approach to the pulse pileup problem

Abstract

Ageing of a Ge(Li) detector results in a decrease of the signal from the detector at a rate of 1% per year. Pulse pileup at high counting rates distorts all peaks in a typical spectrum in the same way depending on the counting rate and the overall shape of the spectrum. Pulser timing corrects for both analyzer dead time and pulse pileup distortion and thus gives the correct timing of the counting interval if peak areas are to be used for quantitative work. “Leaky discriminators” are proposed for multichannel analyzers to permit effective usage of two-pulser spectrum stabilization.