A Large Capacity Sample Changer for Fully Automated Gamma Ray Spectroscopy

An automatic sample changer has been developed for use in Ge(Li) gamma ray spectroscopy. The sample changer features remote storage to prevent cross-talk and to reduce background. It has a capacity for 200 samples. It also features automatic setting of the sample to detector distance to optimise the count rate performance. An additional feature is the rotation and vibration of samples during counting to assure that powdered samples are compacted and improve the precision and reproducibility of the counting geometry. Three systems have been equipped with the changer and these are connected to an in-house computer on a first-come-first-served basis via a high speed data interface (153,6Kb).