A closer look at the efficiency calibration of LaBr3(Ce) and NaI(Tl) scintillation detectors using MCNPX for various types of nuclear investigations

Ghada ALMisned; Hesham M H Zakaly; Fatema T Ali; Shams A M Issa; Antoaneta Ene; Gokhan Kilic; V Ivanov; H O Tekin

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e10839

A closer look at the efficiency calibration of LaBr₃(Ce) and NaI(Tl) scintillation detectors using MCNPX for various types of nuclear investigations

Heliyon. 2022 Oct 1;8(10):e10839. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e10839. eCollection 2022 Oct.

Authors

Ghada ALMisned¹, Hesham M H Zakaly^{2

3}, Fatema T Ali⁴, Shams A M Issa^{3

5}, Antoaneta Ene⁶, Gokhan Kilic⁷, V Ivanov², H O Tekin^{8

9}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics, College of Science, Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, P.O. Box 84428, Riyadh 11671, Saudi Arabia.
² Institute of Physics and Technology, Ural Federal University, 620002 Yekaterinburg, Russia.
³ Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Al-Azhar University, Assiut 71524, Egypt.
⁴ Center for Advanced Materials Research, Research Institute of Sciences and Engineering, University of 19 Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, United Arab Emirates.
⁵ Physics Department, Faculty of Science, University of Tabuk, Tabuk 71451, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ INPOLDE Research Center, Department of Chemistry, Physics and Environment, Faculty of Sciences and Environment, Dunarea de Jos University of Galati, 47 Domneasca Street, 800008 Galati, Romania.
⁷ Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and Letters, Eskisehir Osmangazi University, Eskisehir 26040, Turkey.
⁸ Medical Diagnostic Imaging Department, College of Health Sciences, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, United Arab Emirates.
⁹ Istinye University, Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Computer Engineering Department, Istanbul 34396, Turkey.

Abstract

The nuclear spectroscopy method has long been used for advanced studies on nuclear physics. In order to decrease costs and increase the efficiency of nuclear radiation investigations, quick and efficient solutions are required. The purpose of this research was to calculate the whole energy peak efficiency values for a range of gamma-ray energies, from 30.973 keV to 1408 keV, at various source-detector distances using the MCNPX Monte Carlo code, which is extensively used in nuclear medicine, industry, and scientific research. As a result, the modeled detectors' full-energy peak efficiencies were calculated and compared to both experimental data and Monte Carlo simulations. Experiment results and prior studies using Monte Carlo simulations were found to be very consistent with these results. The counting efficiency against source-detector distance is then calculated using the modeled detectors. The data we have show that LaBr₃(Ce) has outstanding detection properties. This study's findings might be used to improve the design of detectors for use in wide range of high-tech gamma spectroscopy and nuclear research applications.

Keywords: Efficiency calibration; LaBr3; MCNPX; NaI(Tl); Scintillation detectors.