Performance of a monolithic LaBr3:Ce crystal coupled to an array of silicon photomultipliers

Alexei Ulyanov, Oran Morris, Lorraine Hanlon, Sheila McBreen, Suzanne Foley, Oliver J. Roberts, Isaac Tobin, David Murphy, Colin Wade, Nick Nelms, Brian Shortt, Tomas Slavicek, Carlos Granja, Michael Solar

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

24 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

A gamma-ray detector composed of a single 28×28×20 mm3 LaBr3:Ce crystal coupled to a custom built 4×4 array of silicon photomultipliers was tested over an energy range of 30 keV to 9.3 MeV. The silicon photomultipliers were initially calibrated using 20 ns light pulses generated by a light emitting diode. The photodetector responses measured as a function of the number of incident photons were found to be non-linear and consistent with model predictions. Using corrections for the non-linearity of the silicon photomultipliers, the detector showed a linear response to gamma-rays with energies from 100 keV to the maximum available energy of 9.3 MeV. The energy resolution was found to be 4% FWHM at 662 keV. Despite the large thickness of the scintillator (20 mm) and a 5 mm thick optical window, the detector was capable of measuring the positions of the gamma-ray interaction points. The position resolution was measured at 356 keV and was found to be 8 mm FWHM in the detector plane and 11 mm FWHM for the depth of interaction. The detector can be used as a building block of a larger calorimeter system that is capable of measuring gamma-ray energies up to tens of MeV.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)107-119
Number of pages13
JournalNuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
Volume810
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 21 Feb 2016

Keywords

  • Gamma-ray detector
  • LaBr
  • Lanthanum bromide
  • Scintillator
  • SiPM
  • Silicon photomultiplier

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