Phoswich detector

Phoswich detectors were developed to detect low-intensity, low-energy gamma rays, X-rays, as well as alpha and beta particles efficiently in a higher-energy ambient background. Some detector designs can measure and separately identify all energies simultaneously.

A phoswich ("phosphor sandwich") is a combination of scintillators with dissimilar pulse shape characteristics optically coupled to each other and to a common PMT (or PMTs). Pulse shape analysis distinguishes the signals from the two scintillators, identifying in which scintillator the event occurred.

In 2010 development of a monolithic phoswich sensor technology was announced, departing from the discrete designs. This novel development, termed the continuous phoswich scintillator and detector, provides a number of bits of depth-of-interaction (DOI) information, a significant improvement over the 1 to 2 bits available previously with discrete phoswich scintillators.

Phoswich applications are frequently seen in sensitive and low-background radiation sensors used in space research.

References

• Characterization of Phoswich Scintillation Detectors for the Focal Plane Hodoscope of Magnetic Proton Recoil Spectrometers for Fusion Neutrons
• DIGITAL PULSE SHAPE ANALYSIS WITH PHOSWICH DETECTOR S TO SIMPLIFY COINCIDENCE MEASUREMENTS OF RADIOACTIVE XENON
• APPLICATION OF PHOSWICH DETECTORS FOR LUNG COUNTING PLUTONIUM-238
• Chung, Y. H.; Choi, Y.; Cho, G.; Choe, Y. S.; Lee, K. H.; Kim, B. T. (Jul 7, 2004). "Characterization of dual layer phoswich detector performance for small animal PET using Monte Carlo simulation". Physics in Medicine and Biology. 49 (13): 2881–90. Bibcode:2004PMB....49.2881C. doi:10.1088/0031-9155/49/13/008. PMID 15285253. S2CID 250875311.
• STUDY OF A TRIPLE-LAYER PHOSWICH DETECTOR FOR BETA AND GAMMA SPECTROSCOPY WITH MINIMAL CROSSTALK

External links

• Phoswich Detectors For High Energy Backgrounds (Saint-Gobain)
• Continuous Phoswich scintillators and detectors (Radiation Monitoring Devices, Inc.)