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Centro de Proteccion e Higiene de las Radiaciones, P.O. Box 6195, Habana, Cuba
b
Departamento de Fsica, Universidad de Extremadura, 06071 Badajoz, Spain
Received 11 June 2007; received in revised form 26 November 2007; accepted 29 November 2007
Available online 14 December 2007
Abstract
We present the new improved version of our Monte Carlo program DETEFF for detector efciency calibration in gamma-ray
spectrometry. It can be applied to a wide range of sample geometries commonly used for measurements with coaxial gamma-ray
detectors: point, rectangular, disk, cylindrical, and Marinelli sources (the last being newly included in this version). The program is a
dedicated code, designed specically for computation of gamma-ray detector efciency. Therefore, it is more user-friendly and less time
consuming than most multi-purpose programs that are intended for a wide range of applications. The comparison of efciency values
obtained with DETEFF and MCNP4C for a typical HpGe detector and for energies between 40 and 1800 keV for point, cylindrical, and
Marinelli geometries gave acceptable results, with relative deviations o2% for most energies. The validity of the program was also tested
by comparing the DETEFF-calculated efciency values with those obtained experimentally using a coaxial HpGe detector for different
sources (point, disk, and 250 mL Marinelli beaker) which contain 241Am, 109Cd, 57Co, 139Ce, 85Sr, 137Cs, 88Y, and 60Co. The calculated
values were in good agreement with the experimental efciencies for the three geometries considered, with the relative deviations
generally being below 3.0%. These results and those obtained during the application of the previous versions indicate the programs
suitability as a tool for the efciency calibration of coaxial gamma-ray detectors, especially in routine measurements such as
environmental monitoring.
r 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
PACS: 02.70.Uu; 29.30.Kv; 29.40.Wk
Keywords: Gamma-ray spectrometry; Efciency calibration; HpGe detectors; Monte Carlo methods
1. Introduction
Because gamma-ray spectrometry is a non-destructive
technique which does not require laborious sample
preparation, it has become one of the most widely used
procedures to quantify the concentrations of radionuclides
in the environment. In addition, the improvement of the
spectral energy resolution with the use of new HpGe
detectors has allowed greater accuracy to be attained.
Accuracy in the analysis requires, however, knowledge of
the peak efciency at each photon energy from performing,
if possible, an efciency calibration using standard samples
Corresponding author. Fax: +34 924289651.
ARTICLE IN PRESS
N.C. Daz, M.J. Vargas / Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A 586 (2008) 204210
START
INITIALIZATION
USER INTERFASE
Detector data
Source data
Filter data
Statistic options
Random Sequence
Variables
1
PHOTON GENERATION
Starting point sampling
Direction vector sampling
Initial energy setting
Initial statistical weight setting
GEOMETRY
no
1
yes
no
no
Any energy deposited in detector?
yes
yes
PHYSICS
3
5
yes
no
STATISTIC CONTROL
205
no
END
Fig. 1. Basic scheme of the codes structure, showing the interrelationships of the main program modules.
3
6
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206
N.C. Daz, M.J. Vargas / Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A 586 (2008) 204210
The code uses the 32-bit linear congruential pseudorandom number generator included in the Borland Delphi
(3) package. The period of this pseudo-random sequence
is 232, i.e., approximately 4.3 109. In almost all the
situations modeled with DETEFF, 108 random numbers
are enough to obtain standard deviations of o0.1%.
The particularities of each step in the Monte Carlo
simulation carried out by DETEFF are commented on in
the following subsections.
Fig. 3. Window of the program DETEFF, showing as an example the data corresponding to a Marinelli source.
ARTICLE IN PRESS
N.C. Daz, M.J. Vargas / Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A 586 (2008) 204210
(3)
207
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N.C. Daz, M.J. Vargas / Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A 586 (2008) 204210
Table 1
Dimensions of the HpGe detector considered for the comparison with
MCNP 4C
Characteristic
Value (mm)
Ge crystal diameter
Ge crystal length
Ge dead layers (front and lateral)
Core diameter
Core depth
Distance from crystal to Al cover
Al cover diameter
Al cover length
Al thickness
60
60
1
10
40
4
70
70
1
Point
0.1
Marinelli
Efficiency
208
Cylindrical
0.01
0.001
1000
100
Energy (keV)
ARTICLE IN PRESS
N.C. Daz, M.J. Vargas / Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A 586 (2008) 204210
Table 2
Relative deviations between the values of f.e.p. efciency calculated with
DETEFF and with MCNP4C for the different source geometries
considered
Energy (keV)
40
45
60
80
100
120
140
160
300
500
700
1000
1200
1400
1500
1600
1800
Deviation (%)
Point
Cylindrical
Marinelli
2.74
1.05
1.15
0.76
0.11
0.17
0.04
0.10
0.38
0.49
0.32
1.24
1.26
1.99
2.28
2.97
4.17
2.22
1.50
1.34
0.75
0.16
0.02
0.01
0.14
1.02
0.92
0.64
0.49
0.35
0.21
1.03
2.20
2.96
0.11
0.42
0.07
0.53
0.66
0.75
0.65
0.91
0.88
1.54
1.07
0.02
0.44
0.11
1.29
1.20
2.59
209
Nominal (mm)
Optimized (mm)
Ge-crystal diameter
Ge-crystal length
Frontal Ge dead layer thickness
Lateral Ge dead layer thickness
Ge-crystal to Al cryostat distance
Inner hole diameter
Inner hole depth
Lateral Al holder thickness
Frontal Al holder thickness
Frontal Al cryostat thickness
Lateral Al cryostat thickness
External diameter of Al cryostat
48.0
57.0
1.00
1.00
5.5
12.0
45.0
1.0
0.5
0.5
1.0
75.0
47.8
57.0
1.05
1.40
5.7
12.5
46.0
1.0
0.5
0.5
1.0
75.0
ARTICLE IN PRESS
N.C. Daz, M.J. Vargas / Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A 586 (2008) 204210
210
Table 4
Relative deviations between the values of f.e.p. efciency calculated with
DETEFF and those obtained experimentally for the different source
geometries considered
Energy (keV)
59.54
88.03
122.06
165.86
514.01
661.66
898.04
1173.5
1332.5
1836.06
Deviation (%)
Point
Filter
Marinelli
1.55
1.45
2.80
0.49
2.79
0.19
1.30
1.26
0.15
3.39
1.34
2.96
1.99
0.00
1.91
1.61
1.25
1.20
0.17
3.39
2.93
2.88
2.35
0.35
0.94
0.35
1.99
1.56
1.17
3.92
Efficiency
0.1
Marinelli
Filter
0.01
0.001
Point 20 cm
References
0.0001
100
1000
Energy (keV)
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