Development of a silicon photodiode-based compact gamma spectrometer using a Gd_3Ga_3Al_2O_(12):Ce,B single crystal scintillator

摘要

A compact gamma spectrometer was developed by employing an in-house grown single crystal of Gd3Ga3Al2O12:Ce,B scintillator optically coupled with a silicon photodiode. The performance of the detector was characterized in detail. The detector setup works with a low bias voltage of 9 V, drawn from a single battery. Power to the electronic components ofthe entire system is derived from a single universal serial bus port by employing required DC-DC converters. In addition to the low voltage operation, this developed spectrometer is very compact in size compared to the one developed by employing photo-multiplier tubes. The system offers excellent linearity over the gamma energy range of 344-1408 keV and an optimum energy resolution of about 13% at 662 keV.