Experimental response functions spanning the gamma-ray energy range of 123.6 keV to 11.67 MeV and response matrix generation for bismuth germanate scintillation detectors

Abstract

Abstract We report experimental response functions at 12 gamma-ray energies over the range of 123.6 keV to 11.67 MeV for a 2.54 cm diameter × 2.54 cm long and a 7.62 cm diameter × 7.62 cm long bismuth germanate scintillation detector. The measurements were made at, or corrected to correspond to, source-to-detector distances of 100 cm. The resolutions of the detectors at a gamma-ray energy of 661.6 keV are 11.6% for the small detector and 13.0% for the large detector. We also present an interpolation method for generating a response function at any gamma-ray energy in the range of 123.6 keV to 11.67 MeV for either scintillator using the experimental response functions. Additionally, this method is used in constructing response matrices for unfolding gamma-ray pulse-height distributions acquired with the detectors. A computer code written in FORTRAN-77 generates the response matrices.