Development of a Small-Sized, Flexible, and Insertable Fiber-Optic Radiation Sensor for Gamma-Ray Spectroscopy.
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 (LYSO:Ce) crystal was used and two solid-disc type radioactive isotopes with the same dimensions, cesium-137 (Cs-137) and cobalt-60 (Co-60), were used as gamma-ray emitters. We first determined the length of the LYSO:Ce crystal considering the absorption of charged particle energy and measured the gamma-ray energy spectra using the FORS. The experimental results demonstrated that the proposed FORS can be used to discriminate species of radioactive isotopes by measuring their inherent energy spectra, even when gamma-ray emitters are mixed. The relationship between the measured photon counts of the FORS and the radioactivity of Cs-137 was subsequently obtained. The amount of scintillating light generated from the FORS increased by increasing the radioactivity of Cs-137. Finally, the performance of the fabricated FORS according to the length and diameter of the POF was also evaluated. Based on the results of this study, it is anticipated that a novel FORS can be developed to accurately measure the gamma-ray energy spectrum in inaccessible locations such as narrow areas and holes.
School of Biomedical Engineering, College of Biomedical & Health Science, BK21 Plus Research Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Konkuk University, 268 Chungwon-daero, Chungju-si, Chungcheongbuk-do 380-701, Korea. wonzip@kku.ac.kr.
Wook Jae
WJ
Yoo
School of Biomedical Engineering, College of Biomedical & Health Science, BK21 Plus Research Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Konkuk University, 268 Chungwon-daero, Chungju-si, Chungcheongbuk-do 380-701, Korea. shshin9431@gmail.com.
Sang Hun
SH
Shin
School of Biomedical Engineering, College of Biomedical & Health Science, BK21 Plus Research Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Konkuk University, 268 Chungwon-daero, Chungju-si, Chungcheongbuk-do 380-701, Korea. lde4757@naver.com.
Dong Eun
DE
Lee
School of Biomedical Engineering, College of Biomedical & Health Science, BK21 Plus Research Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Konkuk University, 268 Chungwon-daero, Chungju-si, Chungcheongbuk-do 380-701, Korea. kko988@kku.ac.kr.
Kyoung Won
KW
Jang
Department of Organic Materials & Fiber Engineering, College of Engineering, Soongsil University, 369 Sangdo-ro, Dongjak-gu, Seoul-si 156-743, Korea. scho@ssu.ac.kr.
Seunghyun
S
Cho
School of Biomedical Engineering, College of Biomedical & Health Science, BK21 Plus Research Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Konkuk University, 268 Chungwon-daero, Chungju-si, Chungcheongbuk-do 380-701, Korea. bslee@kku.ac.kr.
Bongsoo
B
Lee
D004867:Equipment Design; D005336:Fiber Optic Technology / Q000295:instrumentation*; D005720:Gamma Rays; D055100:Optical Fibers; D013057:Spectrum Analysis / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods
LYSO:Ce; fiber-optic radiation sensor; gamma-ray spectroscopy; multichannel analyzer; plastic optical fiber