The ionization quench factor in liquid-scintillation counting standardizations

We present a new detailed analysis of the ionization quench function Q(E) used in calculating the counting efficiency in liquid-scintillation counting (LSC), which shows that Q(0)=1, and permits one to derive Q(E) as a function of the electron energy and the parameter kB. The coefficients are tabulated by applying a new empirical formula of Q(E) for kB values in the range between 0.001 and 0.20 gMeV−1 cm−2. We demonstrate the convenience of applying 3H and 54Mn for β-ray and electron capture standardizations, respectively.