Quartz Tuning Fork Sensor-Based Dosimetry for Sensitive Detection of Gamma Radiation.

Nadyah Alanazi,Hanan Alshehri,Muthumareeswaran Muthuramamoorthy,Ghadah Alsowygh,Abdullah N Alodhayb,Sabaa Abdulmawla,Aljawhara H Almuqrin,Hamad Albrithen,Khaled Shamma,Atheer Almutairi,Sarah Alyemni

doi:10.3390/ma14227035

Abstract

This study generally relates to nuclear sensors and specifically to detecting nuclear and electromagnetic radiation using an ultrasensitive quartz tuning fork (QTF) sensor. We aim to detect low doses of gamma radiation with fast response time using QTF. Three different types of QTFs (uncoated and gold coated) were used in this study in order to investigate their sensitivity to gamma radiations. Our results show that a thick gold coating on QTF can enhance the quality factor and increase the resonance frequency from 32.7 to 32.9 kHz as compared to uncoated QTF. The results also show that increasing the surface area of the gold coating on the QTF can significantly enhance the sensitivity of the QTF to radiation. We investigated the properties of gold-coated and uncoated QTFs before and after irradiation by scanning electron microscopy. We further investigated the optical properties of SiO2 wafers (quartz) by spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE). The SE studies revealed that even a small change in the microstructure of the material caused by gamma radiation would have an impact on mechanical properties of QTF, resulting in a shift in resonance frequency. Overall, the results of the experiments demonstrated the feasibility of using QTF sensors as an easy to use, low-cost, and sensitive radiation detector.

Highlights

The increasing use of radioactive sources in several applications, including medicine, research, education, industry, and agriculture, has significantly increased the demand for inexpensive, accurate, and portable devices for detecting nuclear radiation [1,2]
These rewas observed. sults indicate that radiation energy can significantly affect the response of quartz tuning fork (QTF)
The difference in the frequency shift (∆ f ) was 77.6 Hz. This change in resonance frequency was attributed to the increase in the quality factor (Figure 3)

Summary

Introduction

The increasing use of radioactive sources in several applications, including medicine, research, education, industry, and agriculture, has significantly increased the demand for inexpensive, accurate, and portable devices for detecting nuclear radiation [1,2]. Alternative detection techniques are needed due to the health dangers associated with high-energy ionizing electromagnetic radiation, such as gamma rays. Unlike alpha and beta particles, can permeate the body, posing health dangers such as tissue and organ damage [3]. Minimizing radiation exposure is one of the most basic strategies to safeguard one’s health from radiation [4]. In this approach, we aim to detect low doses of gamma radiation with fast response time using a quartz tuning fork (QTF). There are other devices for detecting nuclear radiation with high accuracy, such as gas-filled, scintillation, and semiconductor detectors [5,6,7], the proposed approach is a

Objectives

Results

Conclusion