Principles Of Nuclear Radiation Detection

This book is intended for senior undergraduate and beginning graduate students in physics, nuclear engineering, health physics and nuclear medicine, and for specialized training courses for radiation protection personnel and environmental safety engineers.To keep the size of the book manageable, material has been selected to stress those detectors that are in widespread use. Attempts have also been made to emphasize alternatives available in approaching various measurement problems and to present the criteria by which a choice among these alternatives may be made.

Radiation Detection: Concepts, Methods, and Devices provides a modern overview of radiation detection devices and radiation measurement methods. The book topics have been selected on the basis of the authors’ many years of experience designing radiation detectors and teaching radiation detection and measurement in a classroom environment. This book is designed to give the reader more than a glimpse at radiation detection devices and a few packaged equations. Rather it seeks to provide an understanding that allows the reader to choose the appropriate detection technology for a particular application, to design detectors, and to competently perform radiation measurements. The authors describe assumptions used to derive frequently encountered equations used in radiation detection and measurement, thereby providing insight when and when not to apply the many approaches used in different aspects of radiation detection. Detailed in many of the chapters are specific aspects of radiation detectors, including comprehensive reviews of the historical development and current state of each topic. Such a review necessarily entails citations to many of the important discoveries, providing a resource to find quickly additional and more detailed information. This book generally has five main themes: Physics and Electrostatics needed to Design Radiation Detectors Properties and Design of Common Radiation Detectors Description and Modeling of the Different Types of Radiation Detectors Radiation Measurements and Subsequent Analysis Introductory Electronics Used for Radiation Detectors Topics covered include atomic and nuclear physics, radiation interactions, sources of radiation, and background radiation. Detector operation is addressed with chapters on radiation counting statistics, radiation source and detector effects, electrostatics for signal generation, solid-state and semiconductor physics, background radiations, and radiation counting and spectroscopy. Detectors for gamma-rays, charged-particles, and neutrons are detailed in chapters on gas-filled, scintillator, semiconductor, thermoluminescence and optically stimulated luminescence, photographic film, and a variety of other detection devices.

This book, like its first edition, addresses the fundamental principles of interaction between radiation and matter and the principle of particle detectors in a wide scope of fields, from low to high energy, including space physics and the medical environment. It provides abundant information about the processes of electromagnetic and hadronic energy deposition in matter, detecting systems, and performance and optimization of detectors. In this second edition, new sections dedicated to the following topics are included: space and high-energy physics radiation environment, non-ionizing energy loss (NIEL), displacement damage in silicon devices and detectors, single event effects, detection of slow and fast neutrons with silicon detectors, solar cells, pixel detectors, and additional material for dark matter detectors. This book will benefit graduate students and final-year undergraduates as a reference and supplement for courses in particle, astroparticle, and space physics and instrumentation. A part of it is directed toward courses in medical physics. The book can also be used by researchers in experimental particle physics at low, medium, and high energy who are dealing with instrumentation.

There have been many interesting developments in the field of nuclear radiation detectors, especially in those using semiconduct ing materials. The purpose of this book is to present a survey of the developments in semiconductor detectors along with discus sions about gas counters and scintillation counters. These discus sions are directed to detector users, usually scientists and technicians in different fields such as chemistry, geology, bio chemistry, and medicine. The operation of these detectors is discussed in terms of basic properties, such as efficiency, energy resolution, and resolving time, which are defmed in the first chapter. Differences among these detectors in terms of these properties are pointed out. Chapter 2, on interaction of radiations with matter, discusses how different radiations lose energies in matter and how differences in their behavior in matter affect the design and operation of detectors. Although emphasis is placed on fundamentals throughout the book, the reader is also made aware of the new developments in the field of radiation quite often detection. The author has taught a course in radioisotopes for several years for science, engineering, medical, and dental students. The emphasis on topics varied from time to time to satisfy the varying interests of the students. However, the contents of this book formed the core of the course. About ten selected experiments on detectors were done along with this course (a list of these vii Preface viii experiments may be supplied on request).

A Sound Introduction to Radiation Detection and Measurement for Newcomers to Nuclear Science and Engineering Since the publication of the bestselling third edition, there have been advances in the field of radiation detection, most notably in practical applications. Incorporating these important developments, Measurement and Detection of Radiation, Fourth Edition provides the most up-to-date and accessible introduction to radiation detector materials, systems, and applications. New to the Fourth Edition New chapters on nuclear forensics and nuclear medicine instrumentation, covering basic principles and applications as well as open-ended problems that encourage more in-depth research Updated references and bibliographies New and expanded problems As useful to students and nuclear professionals as its popular predecessors, this fourth edition continues to carefully explain the latest radiation detector technology and measurement techniques. It also discusses the correct ways to perform measurements and analyze results following current health physics procedures.

​ This book will serve as the definitive source of detailed information on radiation, ionization, and detection in nuclear medicine. It opens by considering fundamental aspects of nuclear radiation, including dose and energy, sources, and shielding. Subsequent chapters cover the full range of relevant topics, including the detection and measurement of radiation exposure (with detailed information on mathematical modelling); medical imaging; the different types of radiation detector and their working principles; basic principles of and experimental techniques for deposition of scintillating materials; device fabrication; the optical and electrical behaviors of radiation detectors; and the instrumentation used in nuclear medicine and its application. The book will be an invaluable source of information for academia, industry, practitioners, and researchers.