The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Duke University

Present: Regulatory and Radiation Protection Issues in Radionuclide Therapy

Copyright 2008 Duke Radiation Safety and Duke University. All Rights Reserved.
Welcome!

This is the Eleventh of a series of training

modules in Radiation Physics.

These modules provide a basic introduction
to h matter.

Sponsored by the United States Nuclear
Regulatory Commission and Duke University

Author: Dr. Rathnayaka Gunasingha, PhD
Your Instructor

Dr. Rathnayaka Gunasingha is an

Accelerator Physicist with
background in High Energy physics.

Dr. Gunasingha is a physicist in the
Radiation Safety division and
member of the Faculty of the Duke
Medical Physics Graduate Program.

Contact:
rathnayaka.gunasingha@duke.edu
Goals of the Course

Upon completing these instructional

modules, you should be able to:
 understand the Basic Interaction of Radiation with
Matter
 apply the knowledge in various calculations used
in Medical and Health Physics
 understand the basic principles behind various
instrumentation used in Medical and Health
Physics
This Module Will Cover

The General properties of Detectors such as,

1. Modes of operation
2. Methods of recording data
3. Energy resolution
4. Efficiency of detectors
5. Dead time and dead time measurements
 General properties of Detectors

• There are two types of detectors

1. Active detectors
2. Passive detectors.
 General properties of Detectors

1. Active detectors:
provide immediate results (“signal”), usually by
means of electric current or current pulses

2. Passive detectors:
Radiation effects of these detectors are read
after eradiation. Signal consist of changes of
diverse nature – electrical, mechanical, optical,
chemical.
 General properties of Detectors

• Simple detector model:

Radiation undergo some interactions and deposit the
energy. Net result is the appearance of charge Q
created by ionization within the detector volume and
producing a
 General properties of Detectors

• collection time tC is the time required to collect

charge Q
• Figure shows the charge accumulation in the time tc
for an interaction inside the detector.
tc
i(t) Q = ∫ i(t) dt
0

0 tc t
 General properties of Detectors

• A pulse is due to one interaction.

• Assume the rate of irradiation is low so that we can
identify individual pulses as shown in figure.
i(t)

• The size and duration of each current pulse depends

on type of interaction.
 Modes of operations

There are three modes of detector operations:

(1) Current mode

(2) Pulse mode
(3) Mean square voltage (MSV ) mode
 Current mode

• In current mode, detector response time T is greater

than the time between individual pulses
• Recorded signal is time-dependent current due to a
sequence of events i(t)

I(t)

t
Detector A

• Detector records the average current which depends

on interaction rate and charge per interaction(Q)
 Current mode

• Average current I0 is given by the product of event

rate r and the charge Q per event
E
• Then, I 0 = rQ = r
W 
 
e
where, r = event rate Q = charge per event
W 
  = average energy required to produce an ion - electron pair
e
E = average energy deposited per each event
e = electron charge 1.6 × 10-19 C
 General properties of Detectors

Figure shows the

fluctuations of current with
time
I(t) = fluctuating current
t +T 2
1
∫  I(t ') − I0  dt ′ ⇒ σ I (t ) = σ I2 (t )
2
σ (t ) =
I
T t

• Standard deviation for recorder events are

I(t) σi(t)
given by
σ n = rT I0
If each pulse contribute the same charge
functional standard deviation of the measured
signal is
σ I (t ) σn 1 t
= =
I0 n rT
Mean Square Voltage Mode(MSV)

• This mode is called the "Campbell mode"

• Since σ i2 ( t ) ∝ Q 2
This mode is useful to measure mixed fields
(neutron vs. gamma fields).

• Circuit measures the current fluctuations σ i ( t )

and computes the square of their time average
 Pulse mode

• Current mode is good when event rates are very high.

• MSV mode is good for large amplitude events

• Event rate or time information is needed pulse mode

is used.
 Pulse mode

• In this mode, detector records the charge from

individual event interaction
• Usually more desirable for getting information on
amplitude and timing of individual pulses
• Not suitable for very high event rates – time between
adjacent events are too short for analysis
• Energy deposited ~ Q – enables particle spectroscopy
 Pulse mode

• Output from an event depends on the counting circuit

( detector + preamplifier) preamplifier

Detector
=C
V(t)=V0 (1-e-t/RC) R V(t)

• R = input resistance of circuit

• C = equivalent capacitance of detector system
• Signal voltage V(t) depends on time constant
τ = RC
 Pulse mode
Figure shows current output and voltage i(t)
output for two cases. tc

tC= charge collection time Q = 0∫ i(t) dt

1. When RC<< tC 0
t
Current through R is instantaneous value tc
in the detector.
Equivalent signal is shown in figure (b)

V(t) = Ri(t)

it can collect charge for a single

event with tc.
 Pulse mode

RC << tc
When RC >> tC V(t) V(t) = Ri(t)

Very little current flows through R

during tC.
0
t
Detector current is integrated on
capacitor
V(t)
RC >> tc
Vmax = Q/C
If time between pulses are longer,
capacitor discharge through R
Output voltage V(t) is shown in Vmax

figure ( c ). t
0
 Pulse mode

• This is the most common means of pulse type

operation.
The reasons are
1. t determines the time required for a signal to
C

reach to maximum ( it does not depend on the

external circuit)

2. Since Vmax = Q/C

The amplitude of the output pulse is directly
proportional to the energy of the radiation
 Pulse mode

Advantages in pulse mode:

1. Sensitivity is greater than when using current or
MSV mode.
2. Lower limit is set by the background radiation
3. Pulse amplitude carries some information on charge
generated by event
- in other modes ( current or MSV) this information
is lost.
- all interactions contribute to the average value of
the output current
 Pulse Height Spectra

• When detector is operated in pulse mode, the pulse

amplitudes carry information regarding charges
generated
• Amplitudes of the pulses are not the same, due to the
differences in radiation energy or fluctuations of the
detector
• We get a differential pulse height distribution dN/dH
• dN is the number of counts in dH energy bin
• This can be obtained using a multi-channel analyzer
(MCA)
 Pulse Height Spectra
• Common way to display pulses is through a
differential pulse height distribution

• The number of pulses between H 1 and H 2

H2
dN
is given by ∫
H1
dH
dH = N 0

Differential pulse height spectrum

dN/dH
(volt)-1

maximum H

H (volt)
0 H1 H2 Pulse height (H)
 Pulse Height Spectra

• Another method of displaying pulse height is

Integrated pulse height distribution

X axis ( abscissa) is the same

pulse height as before.
Ordiante ( y axis ) represents N0

the number of pulses whose

number of pulses N
plateau

exceeding H
amplitude exceeds that of a
given value of H.
H (volt)
0
At the origin, the value of y, is H3 H4

N0
 Energy Resolution

• Spectroscopy: response to mono-energetic sources

such as gamma ray or alpha particles
• Pulse height distribution from a detector is called
“response function”
•If all the pulses are dN/dH
good resolution
around H0, good
(volt)-1
resolution means poor resolution

little fluctuation in
H (volt)
pulse height. 0 pulse height (H) H0
 Energy Resolution

• Energy Resolution of a detector is defined as

FWHM
R=
H0
Where FWHM =Full width at Half Maximum

Rule of thumb is,

one can separate two dN/dH
energies H2, H1, if
R = FWHM / H0
H2 – H1 > FWHM h

σ
Smaller the value of R, the h/2 FWHM

better the detector will be able H (volt)

0
to resolve energies lying H0

closer
 Energy Resolution

• There are number of Sources of fluctuations:

a) Drift of detector operating characteristics ( HV,
gain ..)
b) random noise in detector & electronics
c) statistical noise intrinsic to nature of signal
(discrete number of charge carriers, fluctuations
in energy deposition in detector)
• C) will dominate because it is always in a detector
system
 Energy Resolution

• Estimation for fluctuation, can be given by

assuming a Poisson's distribution of events N .

• Standard deviation is N
• N is usually large, Then the response function
is a Gaussian shape
 ( H − H )2 
− 0 
A  2 σ 2 
G(H ) = e  

σ 2π

• FWHM = 2.35σ
 Energy Resolution

• Average pulse H 0 = KN where K = constant

standard deviation σ =K N and
FWHM = 2.35K N
FWHM
Energy resolution RPosisson Limit =
H0
2.35K N 2.35
R= =
KN N
 Energy Resolution

• It was found that better resolution than Poisson's

limit can be achieved. Ionization events are not
fully independent and Poisson statistics is not
applicable.

• The departure of the observed statistical fluctuations

in the number of charge carriers from pure Poisson's
statistics is defined by Fano factor, F
observed variance in N
F=
Poisson predicted variance
 Energy Resolution

• Because variance is σ 2 , the equivalent equation

2.35K N F F
Rlimit = = 2.35
KN N

• F < 1 for semiconductor detectors and propotional

counters, F ≈ 1 for scintillators

• Adding all sources of fluctuations ( Gauss)

2 2 2 2
( FWHM )Total = ( FWHM )stat + ( FWHM )noise + ( FWHM )drift .....
 Detection Efficiency

• Charged particles or ions immediately interact within

the detector volume as soon as they enter the detector
Every pulse can be recorded and detector is almost
100% efficient.

• Gamma and neutron travel a large distance before

they interact within the detector. Therefore, the
efficiency for uncharged particles is less than 100%
 Detection Efficiency

• There are two classes of efficiency

1. Absolute efficiency η abs
2. Intrinsic efficiency ηint

• Absolute efficiency is defined as

number of particles recorded ( N det ected )
η abs =
number of particles emitted by source(N emitted )

• ηabs depends on the detector properties and geometry

 Detection Efficiency

• Intrinsic efficiency is defined as

number of pulses recorded(N det )
ηint =
number of radiation incident on detector(N inci )
• ηint depends on detector properties only

• Taking ratio of η abs and ηint ,

ηabs N inci
=
ηint N emitted
 Detection Efficiency
• From the diagram,
Ω = A/l2 = πa2/l2
Ninci Ω A
=
N emitted 4π a
S Ω

l
 Ω
• η abs = ηint   πa2/4πl2 = Ω/4π
 4π 

• Usually not all the pulses are of interest. For instance, in

spectroscopy, only the pulses around peak are desired.

Peak efficiency εpeak is determined considering

pulses around the peak.
 Detection Efficiency
• ε total is calculated counting all interactions.

• peak-to-total ratio is defined by

ε peak
r=
ε total dN/dH

Full energy peak

• Figure shows peak area and total area.

H (volt)
Intrinsic peak efficiency 0
most commonly tabulated
for gamma detectors
 Dead Time

• A detector that responds sequentially for individual

events, requires a minimum amount of time that
should separate two events in order that events be
recorded as two separate events.

• This minimum time is called the “Dead Time”

• Dead time may be due to:

a. processes in the detector
b. counting electronics
 Dead Time

• In a random sample, two events may occur

very close in time, and some true events may
be lost due to the dead time
• There are two methods to determine the true
number of events
1. paralyzable detector method
2. nonparalyzable detector method
• Dead time τ is set after each true event that
occurred during the “live period”
 Dead Time

• Paralyzable detector method:

Any event occurred during dead period not recorded as
counts, but it extends the dead period t following the lost
event.
• Non paralyzable detector method:
it just ignore the other event occurred during dead period
t
Following example shows the difference between
paralyzable and nonparalyzable events
 Dead Time

The middle line represents 10 events along the time axis as they come.
Assume events 3,4 and 6,7,8 come very close in time (i.e. within the
dead time of previous event)

paralyzable
τ
Dead Five events in
Live paralyzable method
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Time
events in the detector

Dead Seven events in

Live nonparalyzable method
nonparalyzable
 Dead Time

Events 1,9 and 10 are recorded by both detectors.

After event 2 is registered, event 3 and 4 restart the dead

period for paralyzable detector which misses both event 3
and 4.
In non paralyzable method, after event 2 is registered, it
recovers to register event 4. ( event 3 is lost since it is
within dead time of event 2 and event 4 is outside the
dead time of 2)
 Dead Time

• After event 5 is recorded, paralyzable detector extends the

dead period from events 6,7, and 8. As a result, all events
6,7,8 are lost.

• In non-paralyzable detector, after event 5 is recorded, it

recovers to record the event 7. Only event 6 and 8 are lost
as they are within dead time of event 5 and 7 respectively.
Nonparalyzable Detector Method

•Let us obtain an expression for true interaction

rate. Dead time is a fixed value for each event
in this method.
assume n= rate of true interactions
m= rate of measured events
τ = dead time for one event
Then,
fraction of time detector is dead = mτ
fraction of time detector is sensitive = 1-mτ
 Nonparalyzable Detector Method

m
•Fraction of true events recorded =
n
m
= 1 − mτ
n
m
n=
1 − mτ

• Using n, appropriate correction can be made to

measured data m.
 Paralyzable Detector Method

• The dead τ is not fixed in this method. As you

saw in the example, dead time depends on how
close the events are.

• In this method, only intervals longer than τ are

registered. We need to find the distribution of
time intervals between consecutive random
events.
 Paralyzable Detector Method

•Let us assume, true events rates to be n

Then, the average number of events occur in time t = nt

if first event occur at t = 0,

probability that no event occur in time t , after
first event(Poisson term) P0 = e− nt

Probability that an event occurs in next time

interval dt = ndt
 Paralyzable Detector Method

After first event at t = 0,

The probability that the next event occur
between t and t + dt → p( t )dt = ne − nt dt

Where p( t )dt = probability of observing an interval

whose length lies between dt about t

The probability of intervals larger than τ

∞ ∞
p( τ ) = ∫ p( t )dt = ∫ ne − nt dt = e − nτ
τ τ
 Paralyzable Detector Method

Then, observed count rate m is

m = ne− nτ

For low event rate or slow dead time ( nτ << 1 )

m = n( 1- nτ )

Here, the true rate n, can not be solved explicitly.

If m and τ are known, n can be solved iteratively.
 Paralyzable Detector Method

Figure shows the plot of measured count rate m, as a

function of true rate n for both models

m
n
=
m

1/τ yzabl
e
a ral
nonp

1/eτ

paralyzable
0 n
1/τ
 Paralyzable Detector Method

• In non-paralyzable model m can not exceed the value

1
τ . When n increases m approaches an asymptotic
value.

• For paralyzable model, (using calculus) m has a

maximum value (1/eτ) at n=1/τ. After that m
decreases to zero with increasing n.

• Also, in this model, there could be two possible

event rates n, for one measured rate m.
 Dead Time
• Low rates n or slow dead time i.e. nτ
1

n
For non paralyzable model m = = n ( 1 − nτ )
1 + nτ

For paralyzable model m = ne − nτ = n (1 − nτ )

So, both model agree in the limit of low rate n or

slow dead time τ
 Dead Time Measurements

• In order to make dead time correction for

m observed events, we should know τ

• There are two methods to measure τ

1. two source method
2. decay source method
 Dead Time Measurements

• two source method

In this method, counting rate is observed individually
and in combination.
Assume,
n1 ,n2 and n12 be true counting rates for sources 1, 2 and
combined
m1 ,m2 and m12 be observed counting rates for
sources 1, 2 and combined
n b and mb are the background rates for true and
observed
 Dead Time Measurements

• Then, n12 − nb = ( n1 − n )b + ( n2 − nb )
n12 + nb = n1 + n2
Using non-paralizable model value for each n
m12 mb m1 m2
+ = +
1 − m12τ 1 − mbτ 1 − m1τ 1 − m2τ
 Dead Time Measurements

• Solve for τ ,
m1 m2 − m1m2 ( m12 − m1 )( m12 − m2 )
τ=
m1m2 m12
 Dead Time Measurements
• Decay method:
A short lived source is used.
Assume n0 is the true rate at t = 0 and λ is the decay
constant
Assume, background is very small n  nb
n = n0 e − λt
m
Assume non-paralyzable method n =
1 − mτ
meλt = − n0τ m + n0
 Dead Time Measurements

• plot of meλt vs. m

slope = - n0τ and intercept n0
slope
τ=
intercept meλt

n0
intercept = n0
slope = -n0τ

m
 Dead Time Measurements
• For paralyzable method,
ln n0
− λt − nτ
insert n = n0 e into m = ne intercept = ln n0

λt + ln m
slope = -n0τ
we get λ t + ln m = − n0τ e − λt + ln n0

slope = - n0τ
e-λt
n0 is calculated from intercept = ln n0
slope
τ=
intercept
 Dead Time Losses

• In all of the previous methods, we assumed radiation

from steady state sources. For these sources,
probability of an event occurring per unit time is a
constant (Poisson’s statistics)

• Some events are lost due to dead time and distribution

intervals are modified and it may deviate from
Poisson’s behavior.
 Dead Time Losses from non-continuous
sources
• Radiation sources such as electron accelerators used
to generate X-rays are operated in pulse mode

• As shown in figure, it can have pulse duration T with

few microseconds and repetition frequency f with few
kW.

1/f
Dead Time Losses from Pulsed Source

• If τ
T , source is pulsed has little effect

steady state source results can be applied

• If τ ≤ T only a small number counts may be

recorded by the detector. This is more
complicated and not consider here

1 
• If τ  T and τ <  − T  , only one count
 f 
per source pulse and detector will be recovered
before next pulse.
Dead Time Losses from Pulsed Source

• Assume m=observed count rate

n =true count rate
Since there is a single count per pulse
Probability of an observed count per
m
source pulse =
f
n
Average number of true events per pulse =
f

• Probability that at least one true event occur per source pulse
(using Poisson distribution) p = 1- p( 0 ) = 1 − e x
n
−
f
= 1− e
 Dead Time Losses from Pulsed Source
n
m −
• Then, = 1− e f
f
m
 −n

m = f 1− e  f
 
  f

• A plot of m vs n is shown in
figure
0 n
• when n → ∞ , m → f
maximum observable count rate is f
Dead Time Losses from Pulsed Source
 f  1 
• Solving for n, n = f ln   for T < τ <  − T 
 f − m   f 

• Expanding in first order

m
n=
 m 
 1 − 
 2 f 
Credits and References

Tsoulfanidis. N, Measurement and Detection

of Radiation, McGraw-Hill, New York(1983)

G.F.Knoll, Radiation Detection and
Measurement, 3rd ed. , John Wiley & Sons