Characterisation of scintillator-based gamma spectrometers for determination of sample dose rate in OSL dating applications

The Application of Full Spectrum Analysis to NaI(Tl) Gamma Spectrometry for the Determination of Burial Dose Rates

“…In a recent preliminary study, Bu et al (2018) showed that a NaI(Tl) scintillator-based gamma spectrometer is also able to determine burial dose rates accurately in natural geological samples, at a significantly lower cost. Using a 3"×3" NaI(Tl) scintillation crystal, they reported minimum detection limits (MDLs) for 40 K, 238 U, and 232 Th activity concentrations of 25, 4.8, and 2.5 Bq•kg -1 , respectively.…”

“…Using a 3"×3" NaI(Tl) scintillation crystal, they reported minimum detection limits (MDLs) for 40 K, 238 U, and 232 Th activity concentrations of 25, 4.8, and 2.5 Bq•kg -1 , respectively. (MDL is defined here as the activity or activity concentration for which the random uncertainty is 30%, Bu et al, 2018). The above data were obtained using a count time of 20 hours, a 0.19 kg sample and an improved three-window spectrum analysis approach; for 0.23 kg sample used below, these values correspond to 21, 4.0 and 2.1 Bq•kg -1 , respectively.…”

“…Here we investigate the benefits of the FSA approach. The revised MDLs are compared with those from both the three-window analysis of Bu et al (2018) and high-resolution HPGe gamma spectrometry (Murray et al, 2018). We also measure 20 representative natural samples and compare the analyses with those from high resolution spectrometry.…”

Temperature Dependence of NaI(Tl) Radiation Scintillation Detectors’ Characteristics

“…In case of a short time operation in outdoor environment, this technique is not subjected to a significant temperature variation; therefore, it can be operated in the same way as in laboratory. For their continuous operation in outdoor environment, as in the case of continuous monitoring of environmental radiation, they are likely to be impacted by temperature effect [4][5][6].…”

“…All of correction methods are related to restoring a shifted spectrum recorded under different temperatures to the position of a reference spectrum which allows the restored spectrum to be processed together with the reference spectrum [13], hence eliminating the effect of the change of temperature between their measurements [5,6,9]. The essential condition for spectrum converting methods is the linearity of the overall system that allows to perform linear operations.…”