Radiation Effect On Gas Electron Multiplier Detector Performance

Journal Article · Wed Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · AIP Conference Proceedings

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3586188· OSTI ID:21513444

Park, Kwang June ^[1]; Baldeloma, Edwin; Park, Seongtae; White, Andrew P; Yu, Jaehoon ^[2]

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1. Korean Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon, 305-600 (Korea, Republic of)
2. Department of Physics, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington TX 76019 (United States)

Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) detector is a gas device with high gain and high efficiency. These detectors use chemically perforated 65 {mu}m thick copper clad Kapton polyimide foils. Given its potential for detecting X-rays and other radiations, GEM detectors may be used in an environment with high radioactivity. The Kapton foils manufacturer, Du Pont Inc., claims that the foils are radioactive resistant. To verify whether the GEM detector performance is affected by the exposure to radiation, several GEM foils were irradiated to a {sup 60}Co source at the gamma-ray irradiation facility at Sterigenics, Tustin, CA. Four sets of GEM foils were exposed to the level of 10 kGy, 100 kGy, 1,000 kGy and 10,000 kGy. The output signal from the GEM detectors with irradiated GEM foils were measured and compared to the detector with no irradiation. We observed that the shapes of the peaks from 5.9 KeV {sup 55}Fe X-ray were distorted and that the detector gain increased compared to that of the un-irradiated detector. In particular, the detector with 10,000 kGy irradiation appeared to have the biggest peak distortion and increased gain. It was also found from that additional electrons from radiation-induced free radicals in the Kapton film contribute to output signal of the irradiated GEM detectors. Further studies are needed to explain the mechanism of these detector performance changes.

• OSTI ID: 21513444
• Journal Information: AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 1336, Issue 1; Conference: CAARI 2010: 21. International Conference on the Application of Accelerators in Research and Industry, Fort Worth, TX (United States), 8-13 Aug 2010; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3586188; (c) 2011 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 0094-243X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
COBALT 60
COPPER
EFFICIENCY
ELECTRON MULTIPLIER DETECTORS
ELECTRON MULTIPLIERS
ELECTRON SOURCES
FOILS
GAIN
GAMMA RADIATION
GASES
IRON 55
IRRADIATION
KEV RANGE
MANUFACTURERS
PEAKS
PERFORMANCE
POSITION SENSITIVE DETECTORS
RADIATION EFFECTS
URANIUM NITRIDES
X RADIATION
ACTINIDE COMPOUNDS
AMPLIFICATION
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
COBALT ISOTOPES
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELECTRON CAPTURE RADIOISOTOPES
ELECTRON TUBES
ELEMENTS
ENERGY RANGE
EVEN-ODD NUCLEI
FLUIDS
INTERMEDIATE MASS NUCLEI
INTERNAL CONVERSION RADIOISOTOPES
IONIZING RADIATIONS
IRON ISOTOPES
ISOMERIC TRANSITION ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
METALS
MINUTES LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
NITRIDES
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NUCLEI
ODD-ODD NUCLEI
PARTICLE SOURCES
PNICTIDES
RADIATION DETECTORS
RADIATION SOURCES
RADIATIONS
RADIOISOTOPES
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
URANIUM COMPOUNDS
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES