Nuclear Engineering ETDs

Publication Date

Summer 7-11-2023

Abstract

Scintillator detectors have become a leading choice of radiation detectors for a variety of applications, including space science. Due to their intrinsic characteristics, rare-earth inorganic scintillators provide the capability to detect both gamma and charged particles in a small detector. The response of these detectors is typically characterized using isotropic gamma sources. However, the light output produced in the scintillator from an incident gamma of a particular energy differs from the light output produced from an incident charged particle of the same energy; a phenomenon known as quenching. Using two types of rare-earth inorganic scintillators, Y2SiO5(YSO:Ce), and Gd₃Al₂Ga₃O₁₂(GAGG:Ce), we measured the light-output from incident proton energies from 1-25 MeV range using a 3 MV tandem accelerator and two reactions: Au(p,p)Au and 3He(d,p)4He. Using a variation of the Birks formula, I extracted the Birks’ parameter to understand the nonproportional lightoutput response of these materials as a function of temperature and dopant concentration.

Keywords

quenching, inorganic scintillators, proton light quenching, radiation detectors

Sponsors

Los Alamos National Laboratory

Document Type

Thesis

Language

English

Degree Name

Nuclear Engineering

Level of Degree

Masters

Department Name

Nuclear Engineering

First Committee Member (Chair)

Professor Adam A. Hecht

Second Committee Member

Professor Ganesh Balakrishnan

Third Committee Member

David Walter, PhD

Fourth Committee Member

Kurtis D. Bartlett, PhD

Fifth Committee Member

Caleb Roecker, PhD

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