Improved radioxenon gamma-spectrometry counting system and its efficiency calibration: Monte Carlo simulation and experimental results at enriched xenon counting environment

摘要

To give satisfactory efficiency both for X- and gamma-ray photon, an improved counting system has been developed in CTBT Canadian radioxenon laboratory. The counting system consists of a BEGe detector coupled with a thin carbon fiber window counting cell, that can perform a reliable and efficient radioxenon measurement. A semi-empirical calibration procedure was adopted, which is a combination of experimental measurement and mathematical simulation. Mathematical calibration tool is Monte Carlo simulation software named VGSL. Advanced gamma-spectrum analysis software, named Aatami, was used for gamma-ray peak shape fitting and X-ray multiplets deconvolution. The calculated full energy peak efficiency curve covers from 30 to 700 keV and agrees well with experimental data points within 2%. The efficiency curve can provide radioxenon analysis both for X-rays and gamma-rays with high quality. The efficiency distortion near xenon k-absorption edge of 35 keV, which is caused by high concentrated xenon in the counting cell, is also discussed.