title: Comparative study of two drying techniques used in radioactive source preparation: freeze-drying and evaporation using hot dry nitrogen jets.
abstract: Quantitative solid sources are used widely in the field of radionuclide metrology. With the aim to improve the detection efficiency for electrons and x-rays, a comparative study between two source drying techniques has been undertaken at LNE-Laboratoire National Henri Becquerel (LNE-LNHB, France). In this paper, freeze-drying using commercial equipment is compared with a system of drying using hot jets of nitrogen developed at Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements (IRMM, Belgium). In order to characterize the influence of self-absorption, the detection efficiencies for (51)Cr sources have been measured by coincidence counting and photon spectrometry.
authors.affiliation: CEA/LIST/LNE-Laboratoire National Henri Becquerel, CEA Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France. thierry.branger@cea.fr
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Branger
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bobin
authors.forename: M-G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Iroulart
authors.forename: M-C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Lépy
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Le Garrères
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Morelli
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lacour
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Plagnard