Use of GSO scintillators in x-range radiometers

Abstract

In radiometers for X-range, the use of scintillators based on gadolinium orthosilicate (GSO) has many advantages over alkali halide scintillators, e.g., NaI(Tl). The shape of spectra obtained with GSO and cadmiug tangstate (CWO) scintillators has certain features that substantially increase the sensitivity of radiometers which use the windows method algorithm and are designed for simultaneous detection of low-energy gamma-radiation of ²⁴¹Am (59.6 keV) and ¹³⁷Cs (~33 keV). These features of oxide scintillators have allowed a substantial increase in sensitivity of the radiometer RK-AG-02M, which is designed for detection of ²⁴¹Am on the background of ¹³⁷Cs. The results obtained in this work show that the use of GSO and (in several cases) CWO scintillators in the instruments involving X-ray range of radiation (e.g., meters of thickness, radiometers) is very promising field of their application. We consider also the effects of different factors related to thermal treatment upon dopant-activated complex oxide crystal to improve its optic-luminescent, scintillation and other functional characteristics. In the selective radiometer RK-AG-02M are using a scintillation block based on GSO scintillator. To increase the measurement accuracy in the bulk density range of 0.6-2.5 g/cm³ correcting function has been obtained for the radiometer sensitivity.