Introduction to Nuclear Radiation Detectors, Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1975 Laboratory Instrumentation and Techniques Series, Vol. 2

There have been many interesting developments in the field of nuclear radiation detectors, especially in those using semiconduct­ ing materials. The purpose of this book is to present a survey of the developments in semiconductor detectors along with discus­ sions about gas counters and scintillation counters. These discus­ sions are directed to detector users, usually scientists and technicians in different fields such as chemistry, geology, bio­ chemistry, and medicine. The operation of these detectors is discussed in terms of basic properties, such as efficiency, energy resolution, and resolving time, which are defmed in the first chapter. Differences among these detectors in terms of these properties are pointed out. Chapter 2, on interaction of radiations with matter, discusses how different radiations lose energies in matter and how differences in their behavior in matter affect the design and operation of detectors. Although emphasis is placed on fundamentals throughout the book, the reader is also made aware of the new developments in the field of radiation quite often detection. The author has taught a course in radioisotopes for several years for science, engineering, medical, and dental students. The emphasis on topics varied from time to time to satisfy the varying interests of the students. However, the contents of this book formed the core of the course. About ten selected experiments on detectors were done along with this course (a list of these vii Preface viii experiments may be supplied on request).

1 Introduction.- 2 Nuclear Radiations and Their Interaction with Matter.- 2.1. Radioactivity.- 2.2. Radioactivity Calculations.- 2.3. Calculation of Activities Produced by Nuclear Reactions.- 2.4. Interaction of Heavy Charged Particles with Matter.- 2.5. Electron Interaction.- 2.6. Backscattering of Electrons.- 2.7. Interaction of Gamma and X Rays with Matter.- 2.8. Interaction of Neutrons.- 2.9. Cosmic Rays.- References.- 3 Gas Counters.- 3.1. General Properties of Gas Counters.- 3.2. Ionization Counters.- 3.3. Air-Wall Ionization Chamber.- 3.4. Pocket Dosimeter.- 3.5. Pulse-Type Ionization Counter.- 3.6. Proportional Counter.- 3.7. Position-Sensitive Proportional Counters.- 3.8. Neutron Counters.- 3.9. Geiger-Müller Counters.- 3.10. Counter Gas.- 3.11. Detection of Alpha and Beta Radiations by Geiger Counters.- 3.12. Detection of X Rays and Gamma Rays by Gas Counters.- 3.13. Application of Internal Counting Methods.- References.- 4 Scintillation Counters.- 4.1. General Characteristics of Scintillation Counting Systems.- 4.2. Scintillant Materials and Mechanism of Scintillation.- 4.3. Photomultipliers.- 4.4. The Shape of the Pulse.- 4.5. Scintillation Counter Assembly.- 4.6. Relationship between Pulse Height and Energy.- 4.7. Detection of Gamma Rays by Scintillation Counters.- 4.8. Integral Counting.- 4.9. Differential Counting and Determination of Energy of Gamma Rays.- 4.10. Efficiency of Scintillation Counters for Gamma Detection.- 4.11. Energy Resolution in Scintillant Detectors.- 4.12. Detection of Charged Particles with Scintillation Counters.- 4.13. Detection of Neutrons.- 4.14. Particle Identification by Pulse Shape Discrimination.- 4.15. Other Methods for Particle Identification and Discrimination.- References.- 5 Semiconductor Detectors.- 5.1. Operation of a Semiconductor Counter.- 5.2. Impurity Semiconductors.- 5.3. Detector Types.- 5.4. Pulse Shape and Rise Time.- 5.5. Factors Affecting Energy Resolution.- 5.6. Radiation Damage.- 5.7. Detection of Charged Particles.- 5.8. X-Ray and Gamma-Ray Detection.- 5.9. Neutron Detectors.- 5.10. Other Applications.- 5.11. Special Techniques.- 5.12. Concluding Remarks.- References.- Bibliography,.- 6 Corrections in Radiation Counting.- 6.1. Introduction.- 6.2. Absolute Activity Determination.- 6.3. Random Nature of Decay Process.- 6.4. Frequency Distributions.- 6.5. Statistical Errors in Nuclear Particle Counting.- References.- Appendix: Selected Constants and Conversion Factors.