Hybrid analytical method for calibrating a standard NaI(Tl) gamma-ray scintillation detector using a lateral hexagonal radioactive source

In various fields of radiation and nuclear physics, research and its applications help in the management and control of human activities, especially in the analysis of nuclear waste and measurement of low activity environmental samples. The current study uses a hybrid analytical technique and a 152Eu lateral hexagonal radioactive source to calibrate a standard cylindrical NaI(Tl) γ-ray scintillation detector. The technique is a combination of experimental measurements and theoretical calculations because for each environmental and/or radioactive waste sample, a separate reference calibration source equivalent to samples of different compositions is required, which needs additional funding. This method is suitable for any source–detector geometry. It can be used to calculate the geometric, total, and full-energy peak efficiency and the P/T ratio using the model probability of detecting γ-radiation photons, in particular from a lateral hexagonal radioactive source. The detection probability can be mainly influenced by the direction of the γ-quantum motion. This can help build more realistic and complex models than the typical point source case, where simple integration is used to numerically calculate the efficiency of the detection system. Using this method, the self-attenuation and coincidence-summing effect can be calculated for any gamma source matrices. The results obtained can show how useful this technique can be for calibrating complex gamma-ray detectors with any type of gamma-ray source.