Abstract
When radiations fall on certain materials called “scintillants,” flashes of light are produced. Detecting these flashes with the naked eye or with the help of optical instruments was one of the oldest methods of radiation detection. Rutherford, using a ZnS screen as a scintillant, employed this method to count the scattered alpha particles in his historic alpha-scattering experiment. This method is tedious and very crude and was soon replaced by the use of gas counters, where the counting is done electronically and some information about the energy of the radiation can be obtained if needed. In 1944, Curran and Baker replaced the use of the naked eye by a photomultiplier and later Kallmann replaced the small, thin crystals of ZnS by naphthalene. These two changes revolutionized scintillation detection, making it possible to detect, record, and analyze electronically the pulses produced by individual radiations.
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References
W. J. Van Sciver, High Energy Physics Lab. Rept., No. 38, Stanford University (1955).
L. Pauling and E. B. Wilson, Jr., Introduction to Quantum Mechanics, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1955, pp. 309–311.
J. H. Neiler and P. R. Bell, The scintillation method, Alpha-Beta-and Gamma-Ray Spectroscopy, (K. Seigbahn, ed.), North-Holland Publishing Co., Amsterdam, 1965, Chapter V.
J. B. Birks Theory and Practice of Scintillation Counting, Pergamon Press, London, 1964.
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P. J. Ouseph, Am. J. Phys. 41, 589 (1973).
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Bibliography
J. B. Birks, Theory and Practice of Scintillation Counting, Pergamon Press, London, 1964.
J. H. Neiler and P. R. Bell, in Alpha-, Beta-, and Gamma-Ray Spectroscopy (K. Seigbahn, ed.), North-Holland Publishing Co., Amsterdam, 1965, Chapter V.
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© 1975 Plenum Press, New York
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Ouseph, P.J. (1975). Scintillation Counters. In: Introduction to Nuclear Radiation Detectors. Laboratory Instrumentation and Techniques, vol 2. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-0835-5_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-0835-5_4
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
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