A system for precise determination of effective atomic number by beta backscatter

Author

Soller, M.S. ; Cirignano, L. ; Lieberman, P. ; Squillante, M.R.

Author_Institution

Radiat. Monitoring Devices, Inc., Watertown, MA, USA

Volume

37

Issue

2

fYear

1990

fDate

4/1/1990 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

230

Lastpage

233

Abstract

A compact instrument capable of determining the effective atomic number (Z_eff) of a target has been developed and characterized. It is a nondestructive sensor which utilizes a cadmium telluride solid-state detector and a ⁹⁰Sr/⁹⁰Y source in a backscatter geometry. The spectrum of the backscattered beta particles depends on the target atomic number. Measurements show that, by using the mean energy of the backscatter spectrum, the average effective Atomic number can be determined to better than ±1Z . The system includes data acquisition and analysis software which runs on a personal computer. The system was designed to be flexible enough to be used for a variety of applications by changing the data analysis algorithms and the source type and energy

Keywords

cadmium compounds; data acquisition; nuclear electronics; semiconductor counters; ⁹⁰Sr/⁹⁰Y source; CdTe; beta backscatter; data acquisition; data analysis algorithms; effective atomic number; nondestructive sensor; personal computer; Atomic measurements; Backscatter; Cadmium compounds; Data analysis; Detectors; Geometry; Instruments; Sensor phenomena and characterization; Solid state circuits; Strontium;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Nuclear Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9499

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/23.106624

Filename

106624