Investigation of the Pulse Shape and Amplitude of 4He Gas Scintillations Produced by a 5.5 MeV Alpha Particle Source

Abstract

Abstract
Scintillation light is normally produced when ionizing particles such as alpha particles deposit their energy as they travel through a scintillating material, which can be solid, liquid or gaseous (e.g. 4He). In this project we compared scintillations produced in 4He gas by alpha particles (from the decay of 241Am) to those produced in plastic scintillator by cosmic-ray muons. The properties of photomultiplier and Si photomultipliers as sensors of scintillation light were also compared. A Geant 4 simulation was done to measure the amount of energy deposited in the gas cell and a plastic scintillator. The mean energy deposited in the gas cell was found to be 4.3 MeV and that in the plastic scintillator produced by cosmic muons was found to be 4.76 MeV. The mean amplitude was 5 mV and 8 mV at a bias voltage of 73.5 V for both the gas cell and plastic scintillator, respectively.
Keywords: Scintillation, photomultiplier tube, noble gas, cosmic muons, 4He

Cite this Article
Bala A. Investigation of the pulse shape and amplitude of 4He gas scintillations produced by a 5.5 MeV alpha particle source. Research & Reviews: Journal of Physics. 2016; 5(1): 18–29p