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Monte Carlo and experimental efficiency calibration of gamma-spectrometers for non-destructive analysis of large volume samples of irregular shapes

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Abstract

A comparison of efficiency calibration of a HPGe gamma-ray spectrometer applied for non-destructive analysis of gamma-ray emitters in large volume samples of irregular shape is presented. The detector efficiency calibration was carried out during the analysis of cosmogenic radionuclides (60Co, 54Mn, 22Na and 26Al) in fragments of the Košice meteorite. Fourteen meteorite fragments were available for the analysis with masses from 27 to 2,163 g. A reasonable agreement in the estimation of the HPGe detector efficiency was obtained using the Monte Carlo simulation GEANT 3 code, and the experimental calibration using radioactive standards mixed with iron–silica–copper powder housed in mock-ups of similar shapes as the original samples. The differences in the efficiency estimation obtained by both methods were within 10 %. It is recommended that the Monte Carlo simulation of the detector efficiency can be applied in routine analysis of gamma-ray emitters in large volume samples of regular or irregular shapes.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Slovak Research and Development Agency under the contract No. APVV-0516-10, and by the Slovak Scientific Agency VEGA (Grant No. 1/0770/11).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nuclear Physics and Biophysics, Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics, Comenius University, 84248, Bratislava, Slovakia

    A. Kováčik, I. Sýkora & P. P. Povinec

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  1. A. Kováčik
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  2. I. Sýkora
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  3. P. P. Povinec
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Correspondence to P. P. Povinec.

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Kováčik, A., Sýkora, I. & Povinec, P.P. Monte Carlo and experimental efficiency calibration of gamma-spectrometers for non-destructive analysis of large volume samples of irregular shapes. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 298, 665–672 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-013-2509-8

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