We present a space mission concept for a low energy gamma-ray telescope, ATHENA, which is under investigation as the next major advance in gamma-ray spectroscopy following the current COMPTON Gamma Ray Observatory and the planned INTEGRAL missions. The instrument c o v ers the nuclear line emission energy domain with dramatically improved sensitivity and spectral resolution. The baseline conngu...

Measurements of high-energy photons from cosmic sources of nuclear radiation through ESA's INTEGRAL mission have advanced our knowledge: new data with high spectral resolution showed that characteristic gamma-ray lines from radioactive decays occur throughout the Galaxy in its interstellar medium. Although the number of detected sources and often the significance of the astrophysical results re...

A method to utilize CdZnTe (CZT) detectors in diagnostic x-ray spectroscopy is described in this article. Spectral distortion due to transmission of primary x rays, the escape of cadmium- and tellurium-K fluorescent x rays, and tailing was severe in measured x-ray spectra. Therefore, correction for the distortion was performed with the stripping method using response functions. The response fun...

We fabricated a small-sized, flexible, and insertable fiber-optic radiation sensor (FORS) that is composed of a sensing probe, a plastic optical fiber (POF), a photomultiplier tube (PMT)-amplifier system, and a multichannel analyzer (MCA) to obtain the energy spectra of radioactive isotopes. As an inorganic scintillator for gamma-ray spectroscopy, a cerium-doped lutetium yttrium orthosilicate (...

background: similar to the thermoluminescence (tl) spectra, the optical parameters variations can also be used in tl crystals for dosimetry purposes. these optical parameters can include absorption, transmission and reflection coefficients. materials and methods: single crystals of kbr and kcl which have been used in this research were grown from laboratory grade extra pure precursor powders. c...

Background: Man-made  radionuclides, which are present in environment, have been created by human activities and added to the inventory of natural radionuclides for example 3H, 131I, 129I, 137Cs, 90Sr and 239Pu, in spite of the amount added is little compared to natural quantities. The aim of this study is to estimate the levels of radiological doses in the soil samples collected from different...

programs. 1 General coincidence summing problems and specific coincidence summing problems encountered when measuring these two radionuclides on filter papers were discussed in the last issue? In order to perform accurate measurements of 134CS and 60Co in liquid samples using Marinelli beakers, coincidence summing effects should be investigated. Liquid samples of 134Cs and 60Co were prepared in...

Cadmium–Zinc–Telluride Imager (CZTI) onboard AstroSat has been a prolific Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) monitor. While the 2-pixel Compton scattered events (100–300 keV) are used to extract sensitive spectroscopic information, inclusion of low-gain pixels ( $$\sim $$ 20 $$\%$$ detector plane) after careful calibration extends energy range spectra 600 keV. The new feature also allows single-pixel spectr...

There is increasing interest in germanium detector gamma-ray spectroscopy performed at high and ultra-high count rates. Applications exist in fields as diverse as neutron-activation analysis, post-accident sampling, stack monitoring, and fuelpin scanning. The publication of a recent paper claiming exceptional performance for an ultra-high-count-rate package of instruments is the catalyst for th...