Statistical spread in pulse size of the scintillation spectrometer

Abstract

The results of an experimental investigation concerning the statistical spread of the pulse sizes of the scintillation spectrometer are reported. It was found that for γ-ray energies lower than 800 keV the measured half-width η of the lines fit strictly the relation η² = α + β/E where the two constants α and β vary slightly from one spectrometer to another. At higher energies the half-widths appear to be considerably smaller than predicted from the previous relation. That is due to the fact that at the high energies the γ-rays are absorbed in the phosphor not only by photoelectric effect, but any combination of processes by which the γ-ray is completely absorbed, can happen. All the experimental results are compared with statistical predictions.