Simulation and measurement of spectra of reference filtered X radiation

Abstract

The energy spectrum is one of the most effective methods to characterise the quality of reference filtered X radiations. To obtain the energy resolution, the authors choose seven sealed standard radioactive sources to carry out energy calibration for high-purity germanium detector whose energy resolution is within 3%. Then they use this spectrometer to measure the reference filtered X radiations with its energy from 55 to 125 keV of low air-kerma rate series, meanwhile the BEAMnrc is used to simulate the spectra of the same four radiation qualities. By analysing the data of spectral distribution, they can determine mean energy and spectral resolution of these reference radiation qualities. By comparing simulation results with actual measurements, the result shows the spectra stimulated by the BEAMnrc are consistent with the spectra measured by high-purity germanium detector and the deviation of the mean energy is within 4.0%. The spectral resolution of the reference filtered X radiation is 22.8, 22.4, 22.5 and 22.8%, respectively.