• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.11
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• pp.2572-2580
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• 2020

Emerging gamma ray detection applications that utilize neutron-based interrogation result in the prompt emission of high-energy (>2 MeV) gamma-rays. Rapid imaging is enabled by scintillators that possess high density, high atomic number, and excellent energy resolution. In this paper, we evaluate the bright (50,000 photons/MeV) oxide scintillator, cerium-doped Gd₂Al₂Ga₃O₁₂ (GAGG(Ce)). A silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) array is coupled to a GAGG(Ce) scintillator array (12 × 12 pixels) and integrated into a coded-aperture based gamma-ray imaging system. A resistor-based symmetric charge division circuit was used reduce the multiplicity of the analog outputs from 144 to 4. The developed system exhibits 9.1%, 8.3%, and 8.0% FWHM energy resolutions at 511 keV, 662 keV, and 1173.2 keV, respectively. In addition, a pixel-identification resolution of 602 ㎛ FWHM was obtained from the GAGG(Ce) scintillator array.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.73-78
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• 2015

In this study, a scintillation detector was fabricated using a silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) and a Ce:GAGG scintillator single crystal, and its spectroscopic properties were compared with those of commercially available LYSO and CsI:Tl scintillators using ${\gamma}$-ray spectroscopy. The energy resolutions of the self-produced scintillation detector composed of the scintillator single crystal (volume: $3{\times}3{\times}20mm^3$) and SiPM (Photosensitive area: $3{\times}3mm^2$) for standard ${\gamma}$-ray sources, such as $^{133}Ba$, $^{22}Na$, $^{137}Cs$ and $^{60}Co$ were measured and compared. As a result, the energy resolutions of the proposed Ce:GAGG scintillation detector for g-rays, as measured using its spectroscopic properties, were found to be 13.5% for $^{133}Ba$ 0.356 MeV, 6.9% for $^{22}Na$ 0.511 MeV, 5.8% for $^{137}Cs$ 0.662 MeV and 2.3% for $^{60}Co$ 1.33 MeV.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.214-225
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• 2022

Background: The conventional cerium-doped Gd₂Al₂Ga₃O₁₂ (GAGG(Ce)) scintillator-based gamma-ray imager has a bulky detector, which can lead to incorrect positioning of the gammaray source if the shielding against background radiation is not appropriately designed. In addition, portability is important in complex environments such as inside nuclear power plants, yet existing gamma-ray imager based on a tungsten mask tends to be weighty and therefore difficult to handle. Motivated by the need to develop a system that is not sensitive to background radiation and is portable, we changed the material of the scintillator and the coded aperture. Materials and Methods: The existing GAGG(Ce) was replaced with Bi₄Ge₃O₁₂ (BGO), a scintillator with high gamma-ray detection efficiency but low energy resolution, and replaced the tungsten (W) used in the existing coded aperture with lead (Pb). Each BGO scintillator is pixelated with 144 elements (12 × 12), and each pixel has an area of 4 mm × 4 mm and the scintillator thickness ranges from 5 to 20 mm (5, 10, and 20 mm). A coded aperture consisting of Pb with a thickness of 20 mm was applied to the BGO scintillators of all thicknesses. Results and Discussion: Spectroscopic characterization, imaging performance, and image quality evaluation revealed the 10 mm-thick BGO scintillators enabled the portable gamma-ray imager to deliver optimal performance. Although its performance is slightly inferior to that of existing GAGG(Ce)-based gamma-ray imager, the results confirmed that the manufacturing cost and the system's overall weight can be reduced. Conclusion: Despite the spectral characteristics, imaging system performance, and image quality is slightly lower than that of GAGG(Ce), the results show that BGO scintillators are preferable for gamma-ray imaging systems in terms of cost and ease of deployment, and the proposed design is well worth applying to systems intended for use in areas that do not require high precision.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.50 no.5
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• pp.801-805
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• 2018

In this study, an underwater radiation detector was built using a GAGG(Ce) scintillator and silicon photomultiplier to establish an underwater radiation exposure monitoring system. The GAGG(Ce) scintillator is suitable for small radiation detectors as it strongly absorbs gamma rays and has a high light emission rate with no deliquescent properties. Additionally, the silicon photomultiplier is a light sensor with characteristics such as small size and low applied voltage. Further, a program and mobile app were developed to monitor the radiation coefficient values generated from the detector. According to the results of the evaluation of the characteristics of the underwater radiation monitoring system, when tested for its responsiveness to radiation intensity and reactivity, the system exhibited a coefficient of determination of at least 0.99 with respect to the radiation source distance. Additionally, when tested for its underwater environmental temperature dependence, the monitoring system exhibited an increase in the count rate up to a certain temperature because of the increasing dark current and a decrease in the count rate because of decreasing overvoltage. Extended studies based on the results of this study are expected to greatly contribute to immediate and continuing evaluation of the degree of radioactive contamination in underwater environments.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.96-100
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• 2015

In the present study, we developed a real-time radiation-monitoring sensor for an underwater radiation-monitoring system and evaluated its effectiveness using reference radiation sources. The monitoring sensor was designed and miniaturized using a silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) and a cerium-doped-gadolinium-aluminum-gallium-garnet (Ce:GAGG) scintillator, and an underwater wireless monitoring system was implemented by employing a remote Bluetooth communication module. An acrylic water tank and reference radiation sources ($^{137}Cs$, $^{90}Sr$) were used to evaluate the effectiveness of the monitoring sensor. The underwater monitoring sensor's detection response and efficiency for gamma rays and beta particles as well as the linearity of the response according to the gammaray intensity were verified through an evaluation. This evaluation is expected to contribute to the development of base technology for an underwater radiation-monitoring system.

• Journal of IKEEE
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.282-287
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• 2015

In this study, an optical fiber detector was constructed by using a Ce:GAGG scintillator, optical fiber, and photomultiplier. The single crystal size of the scintillator was set to $3{\times}3{\times}20mm^3$ after simulating the counting efficiency of gamma rays in the scintillator by using the MCNPX code. The constructed detector used the standard gamma ray sources $^{137}Cs$ and $^{133}Ba$ to measure radiation and analyze the spectral characteristics of gamma rays. The resulting trend curve showed excellent linearity with an R-squared value of 0.99741, and the detector characteristics were found to vary 2% or less with distance based on comparison with the MCNPX value. Furthermore, the spectroscopic analysis of the gamma ray energy from the single-ray and mixed-ray sources showed that $^{137}Cs$ had its peak energy at 662 keV, and $^{133}Ba$ had at 356 keV. It seems that if the fiber-optics detector is used, working hours and exposure of worker can be reduced.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.7-14
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• 2016

Radiopharmaceutical agents for positron emission tomography (PET), such as $^{18}F$-FDG and $^{68}Ga$, have been used not only for whole-body PET imaging but also for intraoperative radionuclide-guided surgery due to their quantitative and sensitive imaging characteristics. Current intraoperative probes detect gamma or beta particles, but not both of them. Gamma probes have low sensitivities since a collimator has to be used to reduce backgrounds. Positron probes have a high tumor-to-background ratio, but they have a 1-2 mm depth limitation from the body surface. Most of current intraoperative probes produce only audible sounds proportional to count rates without providing tumor images. This research aims to detect both positrons and annihilation photons from $^{18}F$ using plastic scintillators and a GAGG scintillation crystal attached to silicon photomultiplier (SiPM). The depth-of-interaction (DOI) along the plastic scintillator can be used to obtain the 2-D images of tumors near the body surface. The front and rear part of the intraoperative probe consists of $4{\times}1$ plastic scintillators ($2.9{\times}2.0{\times}12.0mm^3$) for positron detection and a Ce:GAGG scintillation crystal ($12.0{\times}12.0{\times}9.0mm^3$) for annihilation photon detection, respectively. The DOI resolution of $4.4{\pm}1.6mm$ along the plastic scintillator was obtained by using the 3M enhanced specular reflector (ESR) with rectangular holes between the plastic scintillators, which showed the feasibility of a 2-D image pixel size of $2.9{\times}4.4mm^2$ (X-direction ${\times}$ Y-direction).