title: Development of a simple detector response function generation program: the CEARDRFs code.
abstract: A simple Monte Carlo program named CEARDRFs has been developed to generate very accurate detector response functions (DRFs) for scintillation detectors. It utilizes relatively rigorous gamma-ray transport with simple electron transport, and accounts for two phenomena that have rarely been treated: scintillator non-linearity and the variable flat continuum part of the DRF. It has been proven that these physics and treatments work well for 3×3″ and 6×6″ cylindrical NaI detector in CEAR's previous work. Now this approach has been expanded to cover more scintillation detectors with various common shapes and sizes. Benchmark experiments of 2×2″ cylindrical BGO detector and 2×4×16″ rectangular NaI detector have been carried out at CEAR with various radiactive sources. The simulation results of CEARDRFs have also been compared with MCNP5 calculations. The benchmark and comparison show that CEARDRFs can generate very accurate DRFs (more accurate than MCNP5) at a very fast speed (hundred times faster than MCNP5). The use of this program can significantly increase the accuracy of applications relying on detector spectroscopy like prompt gamma-ray neutron activation analysis, X-ray fluorescence analysis, oil well logging and homeland security.
authors.affiliation: Center for Engineering Applications of Radioisotopes (CEAR), Department of Nuclear Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA. jwang3@ncsu.edu
authors.forename: Jiaxin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Zhijian
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Johanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Peeples
authors.forename: Huawei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Robin P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Gardner