THE STUDY OF ALPHA GAMMA RATIO FOR INORGANIC SCINTILLATION DETECTORS/

To optimize characteristics of alpha-radiation detectors as well as th ose intended to stabilize gamma spectrometers, the alpha/gamma ratio h as been studied for inorganic scintillation detectors within a wide te mperature range (from -20 to +80 degrees C) and at various signal form ation time values (from 0.2 to 20 mu s). Inorganic scintillators with high atomic numbers have been studied, namely, alkali halide and oxide crystals as well as a semiconducting single-crystal ZnSe(Te). Though the scintillators on the base of the oxide materials have satisfactory resolution and light output, they cannot be considered as efficient d etectors of a-radiation due to a low alpha/gamma ratio (similar to 0.2 0). The most appropriate detector of a-radiation remains single crysta lline CsI(TI) having the best scintillation characteristics, nonhygros copic, convenient to use and comparatively cheap. (C) 1998 Elsevier Sc ience B.V. All rights reserved.