Modeling and optimization of scintillating crystal layers for designing a three-layer phoswich Alpha-Beta-Gamma detector

Monitoring the level of radioactive contamination and the type of radiation in the environment is very important for the protection of facilities, employees, and people. Phoswich detector is one of the useful tools to identify different radiations and separate them from each other using different scintillating crystals. However, their design can be very diverse based on the type of particles analyzed and various parameters of scintillating crystals and needs optimization to have maximum efficiency. This work aims to optimize the scintillating crystal layers for the design of the three-layer alpha-beta-gamma phoswich detector based on Monte Carlo radiation transport calculations. The selection of the appropriate model for the type and thickness of each layer is based on the optimization of parameters such as energy accumulation, produced scintillation optical photons, attenuation of optical photons, and scintillation decay time. The results showed that the three scintillating layers of ZnS(Ag), CaF2(Eu), and LYSO(Ce) with optimal thicknesses of 25.01 mu m, 3.50 mm, and 2.54 cm, respectively, have more suitable optical outputs for detecting common alpha-beta-gamma radionuclide emitters.

Automated summary

Monitoring radioactive contamination and radiation type is crucial for protection. Phoswich detector is a useful tool to identify and separate different radiations. However, its design needs optimization for maximum efficiency.