Progress in Studying Scintillator Proportionality: Phenomenological Model

We present a model to describe the origin of non-proportional dependence of scintillator light yield on the energy of an ionizing particle. The non-proportionality is discussed in terms of energy relaxation channels and their linear and non-linear dependences on the deposited energy. In this approac...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on nuclear science 2009-08, Vol.56 (4), p.2313-2320
Main Authors: Bizarri, G., Cherepy, N.J., Choong, W.S., Hull, G., Moses, W.W., Payne, S.A., Singh, J., Valentine, J.D., Vasilev, A.N., Williams, R.T.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Auger process
Biomedical imaging
Channels
Contracts
density
Deposition
Electrons
Energy (nuclear)
Energy resolution
Inspection
Ionizing radiation
Kinetic theory
Laboratories
Mathematical analysis
Mathematical models
NaI:Tl
proportionalityp
Radiative recombination
Scintillation
scintillation mechanism
scintillator
Security
Sodium iodides
Thallium
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Summary:We present a model to describe the origin of non-proportional dependence of scintillator light yield on the energy of an ionizing particle. The non-proportionality is discussed in terms of energy relaxation channels and their linear and non-linear dependences on the deposited energy. In this approach, the scintillation response is described as a function of the deposited energy deposition and the kinetic rates of each relaxation channel. This mathematical framework allows both a qualitative interpretation and a quantitative fitting representation of scintillation non-proportionality response as function of kinetic rates. This method was successfully applied to thallium doped sodium iodide measured with SLYNCI, a new facility using the Compton coincidence technique. Finally, attention is given to the physical meaning of the dominant relaxation channels, and to the potential causes responsible for the scintillation non-proportionality. We find that thallium doped sodium iodide behaves as if non-proportionality is due to competition between radiative recombinations and non-radiative Auger processes.
ISSN:0018-9499
1558-1578
DOI:10.1109/TNS.2009.2022625