RADIATION DETECTION AND MEASUREMENT

Shahid Younas
Lecture 1

Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre

Aims and Objectives

 Basic Concept of Radiation

Detection and Measurement

Types of Detectors

Characteristics

Applications

Practical Session

Assessment

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Detection

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Radiation Detection

 Interaction of radiation with matter.

 Ionization and Excitation.
 Chemical changes.
 Emission of visible light.

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Radiation Detection

 Energy deposited in matter by single interaction is

negligible.
 140-keV gamma ray deposits 2.24 x 10-14 jouls.
 187 trillions of photons to raise 1C of 1 gram of water.
 Electronic amplification needs to add.

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Radiation Detection

How amplification is achieved in photographic film?

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Detector Types

1. Detection Method
a. Gas-filled
b. Scintillators
c. Semiconductor
1. Types of Information
a. Counters
b. Spectrometers

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Mode of Operations

1. Pulse Mode
Signal from each interaction is processed individually.
a. GM Detectors

1. Current Mode
Signals from individual interaction are averaged together
a. Dose Calibrators in NM
b. CT Scanners

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Mode of Operations

Can we use a detectors in both modes?

Ye
s

Scintillation detectors are operated in pulse mode in nuclear medicine but in

current mode in digital Radiology.

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Mode of Operations

1. Pulse Mode
 Two interactions must be separated by a finite amount of time to produced distinct signals.
 If second is close enough in time to the first; it may even distort the first signal.
 Dead time

1.Current
Mode
 All information regarding individual interactions is lost.
 Neither interaction rate nor the energies can be determined
 Detectors subject to very high interaction rates are often
operated in this mode.

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Mode of Operations

Do you know the maximum time in which a photon deposits it

energy?

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Mode of Operations

1. Dead Time:

 Photon energy

 Lower at lower interaction and vice a versa

 Vary from system to system.

 GM counter ranging from tens to hundreds of

micro seconds

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Behavior of Detector Systems

Paralyzable Systems
An interaction that during the dead time
after a previous interaction extends the
dead time.

Non-Paralyzable Systems it does not

happen.

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Behavior of Detector Systems

Do you know how we the manufacturer determines the

dead time of an equipment.

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Dead Time & Gamma Camera

 The artifacts are produced by pulse pile-up and misplaced events due to the excessive dead time of
the system processing all the detected photons, including a very large number of high energy
photons.

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Dead Time & Gamma Camera

Spatial resolution — poor image at high count rate due to misplaced events

 Intrinsic Uniformity
 Intrinsic Uniformity
 74 MBq (2mCi) 99mTc
 740 MBq (2mCi) 99mTc
 13 second image
 149 second image
 One Bar resolved

As the activity is increased by factors of 10,the dead time increases. At the highest count rate shown here the image (R) has
completely collapsed and shows an extreme pattern of misplaced events, because the circuitry cannot deal with the very
high count rate.

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Gas Filled Detectors

Volume of gas between

two electrodes with an

electric potential

difference (voltage)

applied between the

electrodes.

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Gas Filled Detectors

Types of Gas Filled Detectors:

1. Ionization Chambers
2. Proportional Counters
3. GM counters

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Assignment

Classify the detectors used in

your department.

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