scintillation counter

A device for detecting and counting scintillations produced by ionizing radiation.

A particle or radiation detector which operates through emission of light flashes that are detected by a photosensitive device, usually a photomultiplier or a silicon PIN diode. The scintillation counter not only can detect the presence of a particle, gamma ray, or x-ray, but can measure the energy, or the energy loss, of the particle or radiation in the scintillating medium. The sensitive medium may be solid, liquid, or gaseous, but is usually one of the first two. The scintillation counter is one of the most versatile particle detectors, and is widely used in industry, scientific research, medical diagnosis, and radiation monitoring, as well as in exploration for petroleum and radioactive minerals that emit gamma rays. Many low-level radioactivity measurements are made with scintillation counters. See also Low-level counting; Particle detector; Photomultiplier.

Scintillation counters are made of transparent crystalline materials, liquids, plastics, or glasses. In order to be an efficient detector, the bulk scintillating medium must be transparent to its own luminescent radiation, and since some detectors are quite extensive, covering meters in length, the transparency must be of a high order. One face of the scintillator is placed in optical contact with the photosensitive surface of the photomultiplier or PIN diode (see illustration). In order to direct as much as possible of the light flash to the photosensitive surface, reflecting material is placed between the scintillator and the inside surface of the container.

Diagram of a scintillation counter.

In many cases it is necessary to collect the light from a large area and transmit it to the small surface of a photomultiplier. In this case, a “light pipe” leads the light signal from the scintillator surface to the photomultiplier with only small loss. The best light guides and light fibers are made of glass, plastic, or quartz. It is also possible to use lenses and mirrors in conjunction with scintillators and photomultipliers. See also Optical fibers.

A charged particle, moving through the scintillator, loses energy and leaves a trail of ions and excited atoms and molecules. Rapid interatomic or intermolecular transfer of electronic excitation energy follows, leading eventually to a burst of luminescence characteristic of the scintillator material. When a particle stops in the scintillator, the integral of the resulting light output, called the scintillation response, provides a measure of the particle energy, and can be calibrated by reference to particle sources of known energy. Photomultipliers or PIN diodes may be operated so as to generate an output pulse of amplitude proportional to the scintillation response.

When a particle passes completely through a scintillator, the energy loss of the particle is measured. When a gamma ray converts to charged particles in a scintillator, its energy may also be determined. When the scintillator is made of dense material and of very large dimensions, the entire energy of a very energetic particle or gamma ray may be contained within the scintillator, and again the original energy may be measured. Such is the case for energetic electrons, positrons, or gamma rays which produce electromagnetic showers in the scintillator. Energy spectra can be determined in these various cases by using electronic equipment to convert amplitudes of the output pulses from the photomultiplier or PIN diode to digital form, for further processing by computers or pulse-height analyzers.

A combination of phosphor, photomultiplier tube, and associated circuits for counting the light emissions that are produced in the phosphor.