1st Edition
Radiation Detection Concepts, Methods, and Devices
Radiation Detection: Concepts, Methods, and Devices provides a modern overview of radiation detection devices and radiation measurement methods. The book topics have been selected on the basis of the authors’ many years of experience designing radiation detectors and teaching radiation detection and measurement in a classroom environment.
This book is designed to give the reader more than a glimpse at radiation detection devices and a few packaged equations. Rather it seeks to provide an understanding that allows the reader to choose the appropriate detection technology for a particular application, to design detectors, and to competently perform radiation measurements. The authors describe assumptions used to derive frequently encountered equations used in radiation detection and measurement, thereby providing insight when and when not to apply the many approaches used in different aspects of radiation detection. Detailed in many of the chapters are specific aspects of radiation detectors, including comprehensive reviews of the historical development and current state of each topic. Such a review necessarily entails citations to many of the important discoveries, providing a resource to find quickly additional and more detailed information.
This book generally has five main themes:
- Physics and Electrostatics needed to Design Radiation Detectors
- Properties and Design of Common Radiation Detectors
- Description and Modeling of the Different Types of Radiation Detectors
- Radiation Measurements and Subsequent Analysis
- Introductory Electronics Used for Radiation Detectors
Topics covered include atomic and nuclear physics, radiation interactions, sources of radiation, and background radiation. Detector operation is addressed with chapters on radiation counting statistics, radiation source and detector effects, electrostatics for signal generation, solid-state and semiconductor physics, background radiations, and radiation counting and spectroscopy. Detectors for gamma-rays, charged-particles, and neutrons are detailed in chapters on gas-filled, scintillator, semiconductor, thermoluminescence and optically stimulated luminescence, photographic film, and a variety of other detection devices.
1 Origins
1.1 A Brief History of Radiation Discovery
1.2 A Brief History of Radiation Detectors
2 Introduction to Nuclear Instrumentation
2.1 Introduction
2.2 The Detector
2.3 Nuclear Instrumentation
2.4 History of NIM Development
2.5 NIM components
2.6 CAMAC
2.7 Nuclear Instruments other than NIM or CAMAC
2.8 Cables and Connectors
3 Basic Atomic and Nuclear Physics
3.1 Modern Physics Concepts
3.2 Highlights in the Evolution of Atomic Theory
3.3 Development of the Modern Atom Model
3.4 Quantum Mechanics
3.5 The Fundamental Constituents of Ordinary Matter
3.6 Nuclear Reactions
3.7 Radioactivity
4 Radiation Interactions
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Indirectly Ionizing Radiation
4.3 Scattering Interactions
4.4 Photon Cross Sections
4.5 Neutron Interactions
4.6 Charged-Particle Interactions
5 Sources of Radiation
5.2 Sources of Gamma Rays
5.3 Sources of X Rays
5.4 Sources of Neutrons
5.5 Sources of Charged Particles
5.6 Cosmic Rays
6 Probability and Statistics for Radiation Counting
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Probability and Cumulative Distribution Functions
6.3 Mode, Mean and Median
6.4 Variance and Standard Deviation of a PDF
6.5 Probability Data Distributions
6.6 Binomial Distribution
6.6.1 Radioactive Decay and the Binomial Distribution
6.7 Poisson Distribution
6.8 Gaussian or Normal Distribution
6.9 Error Propagation
6.10 Data Interpretation
7 Source and Detector Effects
7.1 Detector Efficiency
7.2 Source Effects
7.3 Detector Effects
7.4 Geometric Effects: View Factors
7.5 Geometric Corrections: Detector Parallax Effects
8 Essential Electrostatics
8.1 Electric Field
8.2 Electrical Potential Energy
8.3 Capacitance
8.4 Current and Stored Energy
8.5 Basics of Charge Induction
8.6 Charge Induction for a Planar Detector
8.7 Charge Induction for a Cylindrical Detector
8.8 Charge Induction for Spherical and Hemispherical Detectors
8.9 Concluding Remarks
9 Gas-Filled Detectors: Ion Chambers
9.1 General Operation
9.2 Electrons and Ions in Gas
9.3 Recombination
9.4 Ion Chamber Operation
9.5 Ion Chamber Designs
9.6 Summary
10 Gas-Filled Detectors: Proportional Counters
10.1 Introduction
10.2 General Operation
10.3 Townsend Avalanche Multiplication
10.4 Gas Dependence
10.5 Proportional Counter Operation
10.6 Selected Proportional Counter Variations
11 Gas-Filled Detectors: Geiger-M¨uller Counters
11.1 Geiger Discharge
11.2 Basic Design
11.3 Fill Gases
11.4 Pulse Shape
11.5 Radiation Measurements
11.6 Special G-M Counter Designs
11.7 Commercial G-M Counters
12 Review of Solid State Physics
12.1 Introduction
12.2 Solid State Physics
12.3 Quantum Mechanics
12.4 Semiconductor Physics
12.5 Charge Transport
12.6 Summary
13 Scintillation Detectors and Materials
13.1 Scintillation Detectors
13.2 Inorganic Scintillators
13.3 Organic Scintillators
13.4 Gaseous Scintillators
14 Light Collection Devices
14.1 Photomultiplier Tubes
14.2 Semiconductor Photodetectors
15 Basics of Semiconductor Detector Devices
15.1 Introduction
15.2 Charge Carrier Collection
15.3 Basic Semiconductor Detector Configurations
15.4 Measurements of Semiconductor Detector Properties
15.5 Charge Induction
16 Semiconductor Devices
16.1 Introduction
16.2 General Semiconductor Properties
16.3 Semiconductor Detector Applications
16.4 Detectors Based on Group IV Materials
16.5 Compound Semiconductor Detectors
16.6 Additional Semiconductors of Interest
16.7 Summary
17 Slow Neutron Detectors
17.1 Cross Sections in the 1/v Region
17.2 Slow Neutron Reactions Used for Neutron Detection
17.3 Gas-Filled Slow Neutron Detectors
17.4 Scintillator Slow Neutron Detectors
17.5 Semiconductor Slow Neutron Detectors
17.6 Neutron Diffraction
17.7 Calibration of Slow Neutron Detectors
17.8 Neutron Detection by Foil Activation
17.9 Self Powered Neutron Detectors (SPND)
17.10 Time-of-Flight Methods
18 Fast Neutron Detectors
18.1 Detection Mechanisms
18.2 Detectors Based on Moderation
18.3 Detectors Based on Recoil Scattering
18.4 Semiconductor Fast Neutron Detectors
18.5 Detectors Based on Absorption Reactions
18.6 Summary
19 Luminescent and Additional Detectors
19.1 Luminescent Dosimeters
19.2 Photographic Film
19.3 Track Detectors
19.4 Cryogenic Detectors
19.5 Wavelength-Dispersive Spectroscopy (WDS)
19.6 ˇCerenkov (Cherenkov) Detectors
20 Radiation Measurements and Spectroscopy
20.1 Introduction
20.2 Basic Concepts
20.3 Detector Response Models
20.4 Gamma-Ray Spectroscopy
20.5 Radiation Spectroscopy Measurements
20.6 Factors Affecting Energy Resolution
20.7 Experimental Design
20.8 Gamma-Ray Spectroscopy—Summary
20.9 Charged-Particle Spectroscopy
21 Mitigating Background
21.1 Sources of Background Radiation
21.2 Mitigation of the Radiation Background
21.3 Self-Absorption of Photons
21.4 Electronic Methods for Background Reduction
22 Nuclear Electronics
22.1 Mathematical Transforms
22.2 Pulse Shaping
22.3 Components
22.4 Timing
22.5 Coincidence and Anti-Coincidence
22.6 Instrumentation Standards
22.7 Electronic Noise
22.8 Coaxial Cables
A Basic Atomic Data and Conversion Factors
A.1 Fundamental Physical Constants
A.2 The Periodic Table
A.3 Physical Properties and Abundances of Elements
A.4 SI Units
A.5 Internet Data Sources
B Cross Sections and Related Data
B.1 Data Tables
B.1.1 Thermal Neutron Interactions
B.1.2 Photon Interactions
Biography
Douglas S. McGregor is a University Distinguished Professor in Kansas State University (KSU) and holds the Boyd D. Brainard Chair in Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering. Professor McGregor serves as director of the Semiconductor Materials and Radiological Technologies Laboratory at KSU, a 9500 sq ft laboratory dedicated to radiation detector research.He has published over 200 research articles and reports, is co-inventor on over 20 radiation detector patents, and his research group has received five R&D-100 Awards for radiation detector innovations. Prof. McGregor is also the recipient of various other honors, including the KSU College of Engineering (CoE) Frankenhoff Outstanding Research Award (2006) and the CoE Engineering Distinguished Researcher Award (2016).
J. Kenneth Shultis joined the Nuclear Engineering faculty at Kansas State University in 1969 and where he presently holds the Black and Veatch Distinguished Professorship and is the Ike and Letty Conerstone teaching scholar.Besides being coauthor of this book he has coauthored the books Fundamentals of Nuclear Science and Engineering, Radiation Shielding, Radiological Assessment, Principles of Radiation Shielding, and Exploring Monte Carlo Methods.He is a Fellow of the American Nuclear Society (ANS), and has received many awards for his teaching and research, including the infrequently awarded ANS Rockwell Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions over 50 years to the practice of radiation shielding.
