A practical and general methodology for efficiency calibration of coaxial Ge detectors

Abstract

The correct determination of artificial and natural radionuclides like 152Eu, 137,134Cs, 60,57Co, etc., and 234,228Th, 228,226Ra, 210Pb and 40K, respectively, is essential for many environmental science fields. For this, a general function was obtained for the full-energy peak efficiency (FEPE) by gamma-ray spectrometry using coaxial Ge detectors. Then, the experimental FEPE values, obtained fixing the energy, Eγ, were fitted varying the thickness, h, of cylindrical standards. The parameters resulted from these fittings were fitted, in turn, versus Eγ, obtaining a general efficiency function, εc (Eγ, h). εc (Eγ, h) was validated, obtaining very good zscore, except for Eγ affected by TCS effects. Consequently, a practical and general method was developed, recalibrating the detector by varying the sample-detector distance, d. εc (Eγ, h, d) was obtained, achieving very good zscore. Furthermore, this practical method was also employed to correct high self-absorptions and high dead times.