North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1988, 399 p., (анг. яз. )
The advent of germanium and silicon detectors in the 1960's has revolutionized gamma- and X-ray spectrometry. The excellent energy resolution of these semiconductor detectors has been the basis for rapid and sometimes step-like progress. Today there is scarcely a field in natural science to which spectrometry with semiconductor detectors has not gained entry. The authors estimate that worldwide more than 10,000 germanium and silicon detectors are operating.
Given the extensive use of these new devices y- and X-ray spectrometry has become a mature technology. The fields of their application begin with measurements of the properties of the y and X radiations themselves, for example, the determination of the y rays emitted from newly produced radionuclides, or the more precise determination of the emission probabilities of the y rays from a nuclide of interest in some applied field. Next, these radiations may be measured to determine basic physical properties, as the structure of the nucleus from which they are emitted. Then there are the many areas of applied science where one uses the known properties of these radiations to measure the concentrations of radionuclides, for example, for assay of the radioactivity in the environment or its distribution within a nuclear power plant. Other important applications include the measurement of non-nuclear properties, for example, to identify elemental impurities and often the number of impurity atoms by activation analysis or X-ray fluorescence or to use similar techniques in material processing. In many of these cases, analytical capabilities of gamma- and X-ray spectrometry have proven to be superior to other techniques including classical chemical methods.
The emphasis in this monograph is on the practical aspects of gamma- and X-ray spectrometry. It is our hope that this material will be useful to a wide variety of spectrometrists, including
- the scientist and engineer who uses, or wishes to use, spectrometry as a tool in applied fields like elemental analysis, geology, biology, nuclear medicine or environmental surveillance,
- the laboratory technician who follows prescribed procedures but wishes to understand more about the measurements,
- the student becoming involved in y- and X-ray spectrometry,
- and last, but not least, the scientist engaged in nuclear research or metrology and already experienced in photon spectrometry.
Contents
IntroductionBackground material: electromagnetic radiation; development of gamma- and X-ray spectrometry; origin and properties of y and X-rays; interaction of photons with matter; statistical data analysis; fitting procedures.Experimental setup: detectors; electronics; gamma- and X-ray sources; source-detector arrangement; performance tests; spectrum analysis and energy measurements; the shape of spectra and peaks; peak location; peak evaluation; energy calibration;energy measurements.Efficiency calibration and emission-rate measurements: efficiency calibration methods; efficiency calibration in specific energy ranges; total efficiency; efficiency variations with source-detector geometry; coincidence-summing corrections; dead-time and pile-up corrections; photon-attenuation corrections; emission-rate determinations.Applications: computer programs for radionuclide analysis; examples of radionuclide and elemental analyses; special methods.Atomic and nuclear data: attenuation coefficients; data related to atomic levels; nuclear data.
