Radiation Detection &

Measurement

G. Donald Frey
Medical University of South Carolina
Charleston, SC
 Radiation Detection
• Radiation interactions
 Ionizations
 Exitations
• Direct measurements of ionization
• Indirect measurements
 Scintillation detectors
• Calorimeter
 Air
• 33.7 eV/ion pair
• So 140 keV in air = 4154 ion pairs
• Substantially (~x 10) more in many solid
materials
 How Can We Detect and
Measure Radiation?
• Radiation Interactions Cause Ionizations
within the detecting medium
• Wide Variety of Possibilities
 Ionization Detectors
 Scintillation Detectors
 Other
• TLD
• OSL
 Film
 Detector Types

• Ionization • Scintillation
 Dose Calibrator  Gamma Camera
 Ionization Chamber  PET Imager
 Geiger Mueller  Well Counter
Counters  Uptake Probe
 Ionization

• Gas Ionization
 High pressure xenon (CT Scanner)
 High pressure portable ionization chamber
 Dose calibrator
 Ionization chambers
 Gas proportional counters
 GM Counters
 Ionization Solid State
• Ge(Li)
• Si(Li)
• Flat Panel
 Selenium
• Cloud Chamber
 Ionization Chamber

- - - - Cathode

-
+ + + + Anode DC
Power

+
 Ionization Chamber

- - - -
+ +
- -
+ + + + DC
Power
 Ionization Chamber

Vs

Recombination
Signal

Saturation

Voltage
Recombination occurs because the ions take too much
time to reach the collecting electrodes
Portable Ionization Chambers
• Use for quantitative measurement
 Patient measurements
• Energy Independent
 Sort of
• Pressurized Version
 micro-R meter
 Calibration
• Traditional unit was Roentgen
• Modern unit Air KERMA in Gy
 Kinetic Energy Released to Material
 Dose Calibrator
A specialized ionization chamber
• Ionization Chamber
 Pressurized
• Calibrated to convert ionization from
radionuclides into MBq
• Very stable
• Linear (0.5 MBq - 50 GBq)
• Not energy sensitive
 Mandatory Dose Calibrator
Testing
• Constancy Each Day
• Accuracy Annual
• Linearity Quarterly
• Geometry Installation or Move
 Proportional Counters

• Utilize the production of ions by the ions

- +
- - - - + -
+ -
+ + - +
- - +-
+ + + + DC
Power
• Not commonly used in NM
Proportional Region

Saturation

Voltage
 Geiger Counter
Outer
Electrode
- Charge Central
Electrode
+ Charge

DC
Power
UV
Radiation
 Geiger Region

Geiger
Region

Voltage
 Quench
Positive Ion Cloud
Shields
Central
Electrode
 Geiger Counter
• Sensitive but not quantitatively accurate
• Usually calibrated in counts or air kerma
for Cs-137
• High dead time so it can saturate
Scintillation
 Scintillation
• Measures the light released by a
material after an interaction with
radiation
• Scintillation can be
 Solid Structure
• NaI(Tl)
 Chemical
Crook’s Spinthariscope
• Used to view radium
Lens scintillations
• Used scientifically for
experiments like the
Rutherford alpha
particle experiment
Radium
• Replaced by GM
ZnS
counter because it
was very labor
intensive
 Solid Materials
Conduction Band

Energy Gap

Valence Band
 Conductors

Conduction Band

Energy Gap
Valence Band
 Insulators
Conduction Band

Energy Gap

Valence Band
 Fluorescence
Conduction Band

Energy Gap

Valence Band
 Fluorescence
Energy

Conduction Band

Energy Gap

Valence Band
 Fluorescence
Light

Conduction Band

Energy Gap

Valence Band
 Phosphorescence
Conduction Band

Traps
Energy Gap

Valence Band
 Phosphorescence
Energy

Conduction Band

Traps
Energy Gap

Valence Band
 Phosphorescence
Conduction Band

Traps
Energy Gap

Valence Band
 Phosphorescence
Conduction Band

Traps
Energy Gap

Valence Band
 Phosphorescence
Light
Conduction Band

Traps
Energy Gap

Valence Band
 Photostimulable Luminescence Complex (PSLC)
BaFBr:Eu2+

Conduction band

tunneling
recombination
tunneling
phonon recombination
relax

6
4f 5d

Laser
PSL
F F+ / stimulation
8.3 eV
3.0 eV Eu 2.0 eV

4f 7

/
Eu3+ Eu2+
e Valence band
incident PSLC complexes (F centers) are created in
numbers proportional to incident x-ray intensity
x-rays
Courtesy of JA Seibert
 Characteristics
• Linear
 Measure photon energy
• High Efficiency
 High Z to capture photon
• High Conversion Efficiency
 Energy to light
• Low After Glow
• Cheap, Easy to Fabricate, etc
 NaI(Tl)
• Best scintillator for low energy (<300
keV) counting
• High light output
• Good stopping power
• PET uses other scintillators
 Conversion from Light to
Electronic Signal

• Light to electrical signal using

photomultiplier tube
• Signal is amplified and displayed using
amplifiers, etc
• Display is usually of count vs energy
histogram
 Photomultiplier Tube

NaI(Tl)

• Scintillator is sealed because NaI is

hygroscopic (absorbs moisture)
• Surrounded by diffuse white reflector
• Glass exit window
 Photomultiplier Tube

PMT NaI(Tl)

• Optical coupling grease maintains the

index of refraction between scintillator
and PMT
 Photomultiplier Tube

PMT NaI(Tl)

• Photocathode converts light to electrons

• PC is low workfunction material (alkali
metals) to produce as many electrons
as possible
 Photomultiplier Tube

NaI(Tl)

• A series of dynodes multiply the

electrons
• Factor of 5 per dynode
• 106 for 10 dynodes
 Photomultiplier Tube

NaI(Tl)

• Electrical pulse extracted

• Magnitude of pulse is proportional to
energy deposited in scintillator
Crystals and PMT’s
 Modern Design
• 10 stage
• bialkili photocathode
 potassium
 cesium
 antimony
• teacup first dynode (truncated
paraboloid)
• focusing electrode
 Scintillators

Linear - Output is a linear function of the input

Output = kE+c
Output

Energy
 General Linear System

O1 = k1E+c1

O2 = k2(k1E+c1)+c2

O2 = k2k1E+
So output remains proportional to energy deposited
in the detector. So energy can be determined
 Non-linear Systems

Wout(u) =  p(u,u’) win(u’) du’

win(u’) = (u’-u0)

Wout(u) = p(u, u0)

 NaI(Tl) Response

Input is delta function (E)

Response is Gaussian p(E) = e -[(E-E0)/)]2

Output is Gaussian

Pulse spread () due to fluctuations

in individual processes
 For NaI(Tl)
• Variation in photons released by by
radiation
• Variation in transmission of light to
photocathode
• Variation in electrons released at
photocathode
1.25

0.75

0.5

0.25

0
0 50 100 150 200 250
1.25

0.75

0.5

0.25

0
0 50 100 150 200 250

FWHM = 1.67 
 FWHM
• For NaI(Tl)
• % FWHM ~10% for Cs-137 667 keV
• % FWHM varies inversely as the
square root of the energy
 Spectra
• If monoenergetic point source
• Large detector
Photoelectric
Compton w/Escape
450 35

400
30

350
25
300

20
250

200 15

150
10

100
5
50

0 0

0 50 100 150 200 250

 Iodine Escape Peak
6

0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140

Iodine X-ray

Photoelectric effect with characteristic x-ray escape

 As crystal gets smaller more of the
Iodine x-rays escape so the peaks
become closer in height

27 keV
 Escape Peak
(Pair Production)

511 keV
Sum Peak
Interactions
 Efficiency
• Geometric
 Does the gamma ray strike the detector?
• Intrinsic
 Does a gamma ray that strikes the detector
interact?
 Geometric

gp = 1/2 [1- cos ()]

 Geometric Efficiency
60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%
0 2 4 6 8 10 12

Distance (cm) from 10 cm detector

 Intrinsic Efficiency

 = 1- exp [-l(E)x]

l = linear attenuation coefficient

( a function of energy)
Intrinsic Efficiency
 NaI(Tl) Counters
• Wells for sample counting
• Probes for I-uptake
• Portable systems for radiation
protection
 Portable NaI(Tl)
• Detection and
Identification of
stray radioactivity
• High sensitivity
makes them
ineffective in high
radiation areas
 Deadtime
• The observed counts in a detector are
frequently lower than the true counts
• This cause by loss of response of a
detector while a count is being
processed
• Called Deadtime
 Deadtime
non- paralyzable

     
 Deadtime
paralyzable

     
 Paralyzable
• Radiation Detectors
• Each event sets up a deadtime whether
it is counted or not and no subsequent
events are processed.
 Non-paralyzable
• Most counting electronics
 scalers
 MCA
• Each event sets up a deadtime and the
device will not accept events until the
end of the deadtime
 Count Response

160000

140000

120000

100000

Observed 80000

60000

40000

20000

0
0 20000 40000 60000 80000 100000 120000 140000 160000
True
 Determining Deadtime
• Split Source R1
• R1, R2 &R12
R2

R1 R2

p =[2R12/(R1+R2)2]/ln[(R1+R2)/R12
 Deadtime
• Deadtime measurements are very
sensitive to Compton scatter so the
measurements should be made using
the same scatter conditions that will be
used clinically
 Quality Control & Testing
Acceptance and Annual
• Deadtime
• Efficiency
• Minimum Detectable Activity
• FWHM Measurements
• Chi-square test (Short Term)
• Energy Calibration
• Count Stability (Long term)
• Background
 Quality Control & Testing
Monthly

• FWHM Measurements
• Chi-square test (Short Term)
 Quality Control & Testing
Daily

• Energy Calibration
• Count Stability (Long term)
• Background
 Common Problems
• Elevation of background due to counter
location of radioactive patients
• Increase FWHM due to loss of light
coupling between the crystal & PMT
• Increased Chi-square value due to
electronic noise or poor isolation of
device from power source
 Common Problems
• Deadtime losses because of high
source activity
• Poor day to day stability because of
variability in source location
 Common Problems
• Failure of Chi-square test
• Increase of FWHM due to loss of optical
coupling