• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.776-780
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• 2017

To avoid imaging artifacts and interpretation mistakes, an improvement of the uniformity in gamma camera systems is a very important point. We can expect excellent uniformity using cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) photon counting detector (PCD) because of the direct conversion of the gamma rays energy into electrons. In addition, the uniformity performance such as integral uniformity (IU), differential uniformity (DU), scatter fraction (SF), and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) varies according to the energy window setting. In this study, we compared a PCD and conventional scintillation detector with respect to the energy windows (5%, 10%, 15%, and 20%) using a $^{99m}Tc$ gamma source with a Geant4 Application for Tomography Emission simulation tool. The gamma camera systems used in this work are a CZT PCD and NaI(Tl) conventional scintillation detector with a 1-mm thickness. According to the results, although the IU and DU results were improved with the energy window, the SF and CNR results deteriorated with the energy window. In particular, the uniformity for the PCD was higher than that of the conventional scintillation detector in all cases. In conclusion, our results demonstrated that the uniformity of the CZT PCD was higher than that of the conventional scintillation detector.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.73-78
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• 2001

In order to find the exposure conversion coefficients for 3"X3" NaI spectrum, we measured the exposure rates with the pressurized ion chamber at 29 different areas in the range of $4{\sim}23{\mu}R\;h^{-1}$, and also measured the gamma spectra with 3"X3" and 4"X4" NaI detectors, simultaneously. The exposure conversion coefficient of the total energy method was determined using the linear relation between the measured exposure rate and the gamma spectrum energy. In order to find the exposure conversion coefficients of the energy band method, we applied the exposure conversion coefficients recommended by NCRP to the 4"X4" NaI spectra, and calculated the exposure rates due to $^{40}K,\;^{238}U$, and $^{232}Th$ series respectively. Using the linearly proportional relation between the obtained $^{232}Th$ series exposure rate and peak area of 2614 keV that represents the $^{232}Th$ series, we obtained the exposure conversion coefficients for $^{232}Th$ series. We also determined the conversion coefficients for $^{238}U$ series and $^{40}K$ using a similar method.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.479-487
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• 2015

The thallium-doped sodium iodide [NaI(Tl)] scintillation detector is preferred as a gamma spectrometer in many fields because of its general advantages. A silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) has recently been developed and its application area has been expanded as an alternative to photomultiplier tubes (PMTs). It has merits such as a low operating voltage, compact size, cheap production cost, and magnetic resonance compatibility. In this study, an array of SiPMs is used to develop an NaI(Tl) gamma spectrometer. To maintain detection efficiency, a commercial NaI(Tl) $2^{\prime}{\times}2^{\prime}$ scintillator is used, and a light guide is used for the transport and collection of generated photons from the scintillator to the SiPMs without loss. The test light guides were fabricated with polymethyl methacrylate and reflective materials. The gamma spectrometer systems were set up and included light guides. Through a series of measurements, the characteristics of the light guides and the proposed gamma spectrometer were evaluated. Simulation of the light collection was accomplished using the DETECT 97 code (A. Levin, E. Hoskinson, and C. Moison, University of Michigan, USA) to analyze the measurement results. The system, which included SiPMs and the light guide, achieved 14.11% full width at half maximum energy resolution at 662 keV.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.67-76
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• 1997

We studied optical behavior of scintillation light generated in NaI(TI) crystal using Monte Carlo simulation method. The simulation was performed for the model of NaI(TI) scintillator (size: 60 mm ${\times}$ 60 mm ${\times}$ 6 mm) using an optical tracking code. The sensitivity as a function of surface treatment (Ground, Polished, Metal-0.95RC, Polished-0.98RC, Painted- 0.98RC) of the incident surface of the scintillator was compared. The effects of NaI(TI) scintillator thickness and the refractive index of light guide optically coupling between the NaI(TI) scintillator and photomultiplier tube (PMT) were simulated. We also evaluated intrinsic position resolution of the system by calculating the spread of scintillation light generated. The sensitivities of the system having the surface treatment of Ground, Polished, Metal-0.95RC, Polished-0.98RC and Painted-0.98RC were 70.9％, 73.9％, 78.6％, 80.1％ and 85.2％, respectively, and the surface treatment of Painted-0.98RC allowed the highest sensitivity. As increasing the thickness of scintillation crystal and light guide, the sensitivity of the system was decreased. As the refractive index of light guide increases, the sensitivity was increased. The intrinsic position resolution of the system was estimated to be 1.2 mm in horizontal and vertical directions. In this study, the performance of NaI(TI)-PMT detector system was evaluated using Monte Carlo simulation. Based on the results, we concluded that the NaI(TI)-PMT detector array is a favorable configuration for small gamma camera imaging breast tumor using Tc-99m labeled radiopharmaceuticals.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.511-515
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• 2020

In this study, we evaluated image quality for new Gadolinium Aluminum Gallium Garnet (GAGG) scintillation material based on the Geant4 Application for Tomographic Emission (GATE) simulation tool. The gamma camera detectors with GAGG and NaI scintillation were designed. In particular, we modeled modified body phantom by National Electrical Manufacturers Association International Electrotechnical Commission to evaluate the simulated images. To analysis the image performance, the contrast to noise ratio (CNR) and coefficient of variation (COV) were used by drawn the region of interests, respectively. Based on the CNR and COV results, the CNR value for GAGG material is higher approximately 17 % than NaI material. In addition, the COV value for GAGG material is lower approximately 17 % than NaI material. In conclusion, we confirmed the performnace of GAGG based gamma camera is useful to improve the image quality for the nuclear medicine instrumentation.

• Proceedings of the Korean Nuclear Society Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.769-770
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• 2005

This study aims to demonstrate the practical value of radioscopic differentiation of materials. The dual energy method is proposed for identifying materials according to atomic numbers. The differentiation of materials is achieved by comparing the attenuation ratio of low and high energy photons. We used gamma-rays of 0.662 MeV and 1.25 MeV and NaI(Tl) scintillation detector with a Multi-channel Analyzer (MCA). We also carried out the Monte Carlo simulation for the case of bremsstrahlung radiation from dual electron beams of 4 MeV and 9 MeV.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.51 no.3
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• pp.784-791
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• 2019

In the present study, a series of tungsten austenitic stainless steel alloys have been developed by interchanging the molybdenum in standard SS316 by tungsten. This was done to minimize the long-life residual activation occurred in molybdenum and nickel after decommissioning of the power plant. The microstructure and mechanical properties of the prepared alloys are determined. For the sake of increasing multifunction property of such series of tungsten-based austenitic stainless steel alloys, gamma shielding properties were studied experimentally by means of NaI(Tl) detector and theoretically calculated by using the XCOM program. Moreover, fast neutrons macroscopic removal cross-section been calculated. The obtained combined mechanical, structural and shielding properties indicated that the modified austenitic stainless steel sample containing 1.79% tungsten and 0.64% molybdenum has preferable properties among all other investigated samples in comparison with the standard SS316. These properties nominate this new composition in several nuclear application domains such as, nuclear shielding domain.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.151-155
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• 1997

In this research, nondestructive test using a radioisotope, $^{241}Am$ gamma-ray, was accomplished in order to evaluate the fiber volume fraction of the accumulated composite layers such as glass fiber/epoxy and carbon fiber/epoxy. Attenuation coefficients of the fiber and resin were measured respectively by NaI(T1) detector The fibers volume fraction was measured for various thickness of composite layers between 2 and 20mm. Fiber volume fraction of the composite layers were also measured for various amount of fibers. The experimental errors from nondestructive test using gamma-ray were in the range of ${\pm}1{\sim}2.5%$ in comparison with those from observation by optical microscopy. By selecting the optimum energy and activity of radioisotope, this method can provide a new means for the evaluation of the fiber volume fraction.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.12
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• pp.4350-4356
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• 2023

Radiation detection systems working at high count rates suffer from the overlapping of their output electric pulses, known as pulse pile-up phenomenon, resulting in spectrum distortion and degradation of the energy resolution. Pulse tail extrapolation is a pile-up correction method which tries to restore the shifted baseline of a piled-up pulse by extrapolating the overlapped part of its preceding pulse. This needs a mathematical model which is almost always nonlinear, fitted usually by a nonlinear least squares (NLS) technique. NLS is an iterative, potentially time-consuming method. The main idea of the present study is to replace the NLS technique by an integration-based non-iterative method (NIM) for pulse tail extrapolation by an exponential model. The idea of linear extrapolation, as another non-iterative method, is also investigated. Analysis of experimental data of a NaI(Tl) radiation detector shows that the proposed non-iterative method is able to provide a corrected spectrum quite similar with the NLS method, with a dramatically reduced computation time and complexity of the algorithm. The linear extrapolation approach suffers from a poor energy resolution and throughput rate in comparison with NIM and NLS techniques, but provides the shortest computation time.

• Journal of Radiation Industry
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.219-224
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• 2023

A high-efficiency underwater radiation monitoring system, HydroGamma, has been developed for detecting ¹³⁷Cs and ¹³¹I in the event of waterborne radiation contamination. The system consists of a 3-inch NaI (Tl) detector, solar panels for power supply, data acquisition and transmission modules, and batteries. HydroGamma also includes a ⁴⁰K calibration source for remote performance evaluation and energy calibration. In this study, some simulations and experiments were carried out to evaluate the minimum detectable activities (MDA) of HydroGamma. We installed the HydroGamma at Tapjeongho Lake in Nonsan-si and acquired background data since MDA is calculated based on the experimental background data. The results show that the minimum detectable activities for ¹³⁷Cs and ¹³¹I were 1.78Bq L^-1 and 1.81Bq L^-1, respectively even though the gamma rays emitted from ⁴⁰K(1,460 keV) affect the minimum detectable activities for them.