Gamma spectroscopy is a radiochemistry measurement method that determines the energy and count rate of gamma rays emitted by radioactive substances. This article is about electromagnetic radiation. ... Radioactive decay is the set of various processes by which unstable atomic nuclei (nuclides) emit subatomic particles. ...
Gamma spectroscopy is an extremely important measurement. A detailed analysis of the gamma ray energy spectrum is used to determine the identity and quantity of gamma emitters present in a material. The equipment used in gamma spectroscopy includes a particle detector, a pulse sorter (multichannel analyzer), and associated amplifiers and data readout devices. The detector is often a sodium iodide (NaI)scintillation counter. The Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) is an exampel of a large particle detector. ... Data acquisition is the sampling of the real world to generate data that can be manipulated by a computer. ... A scintillator is a device or substance that absorbs high energy (ionizing) electromagnetic or charged particle radiation then, in response, fluoresces photons at a characteristic Stokes-shifted (longer) wavelength, releasing the previously absorbed energy. ... A scintillation counter measures ionizing radiation. ...
High resolution gamma spectroscopy often utilizes Compton suppression. In gamma ray spectroscopy, Compton suppression is a technique that improves the signal by preventing data which has been corrupted by the indicent gamma ray Compton scattering out of the target before depositing all of its energy. ...
Many radionuclides can be identified by examining the characteristic gamma rays emitted in the decay of the radioactive "parent" to a "daughter" nucleus.
A count at CE2 corresponds to an event in which a single gamma ray: (a) enters a detector with 1.275 MeV, (b) reverses its direction completely in a Compton backscattering collision with an electron in the detector, and (c) exits the detector volume without further loss of energy.
The energy lost by the backscattered gamma ray is transferred to the recoiling electron which slows in the detector, producing the observed signal.