Fitzgerald, R.
and Forney, A.
(2011),
DETERMINATION OF THE LIQUID SCINTILLATION COUNTING INEFFICIENCY (WALL EFFECT) FOR ALPHA EMITTERS, USING THE ALPHA-GAMMA ANTICOINCIDENCE METHOD, Radiocarbon, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=906829
(Accessed October 16, 2025)
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock (
) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.
DETERMINATION OF THE LIQUID SCINTILLATION COUNTING INEFFICIENCY (WALL EFFECT) FOR ALPHA EMITTERS, USING THE ALPHA-GAMMA ANTICOINCIDENCE METHOD
Published
Author(s)
,
Abstract
The wall effect in liquid scintillation (LS) counting is the loss of efficiency in the case that an alpha-particle hits a surface (wall or air) before depositing enough energy to be detected. We report our measurements of this LS inefficiency using the 4-pi alpha-gamma anticoincidence method with corrections for the presence of gamma-rays, x-rays and electrons during some alpha decays. We derive the Benjamin equation and test the application of this equation to LS alpha counting. Our value for the LS inefficiency is (6 ± 5)10^-5 for a typical low-energy threshold level. This value is consistent with most literature values, but is smaller than the value reported by Cassette (2002) of about 210^-3. We discuss possible reasons for this disagreement.Citation
Radiocarbon
Pub Type
Journals
Download Paper
Keywords
Liquid scintillation, LSC, LS efficiency, wall effect
Citation
Issues
If you have any questions about this publication or are having problems accessing it, please contact [email protected].
Created July 19, 2011, Updated June 2, 2021