Phoswich detectors were developed to detect low-intensity, low-energy

gamma rays A gamma ray, also known as gamma radiation (symbol γ or \gamma), is a penetrating form of electromagnetic radiation arising from the radioactive decay of atomic nuclei. It consists of the shortest wavelength electromagnetic waves, typically ...

X-rays An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a wavelength ranging from 10 Picometre, picometers to 10 Nanometre, nanometers, corresponding to frequency, ...

, as well as

alpha Alpha (uppercase , lowercase ; grc, ἄλφα, ''álpha'', or ell, άλφα, álfa) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of one. Alpha is derived from the Phoenician letter aleph , whic ...

and

beta Beta (, ; uppercase , lowercase , or cursive ; grc, βῆτα, bē̂ta or ell, βήτα, víta) is the second letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 2. In Modern Greek, it represents the voiced labiod ...

particles efficiently in a higher-energy ambient background. Some detector designs can measure and separately identify all energies simultaneously. A phoswich ("

phosphor A phosphor is a substance that exhibits the phenomenon of luminescence; it emits light when exposed to some type of radiant energy. The term is used both for fluorescent or phosphorescent substances which glow on exposure to ultraviolet or vi ...

sandwich") is a combination of

scintillators A scintillator is a material that exhibits scintillation, the property of luminescence, when excited by ionizing radiation. Luminescent materials, when struck by an incoming particle, absorb its energy and scintillate (i.e. re-emit the absorbe ...

with dissimilar pulse shape characteristics optically coupled to each other and to a common PMT (or PMTs). Pulse shape analysis distinguishes the signals from the two scintillators, identifying in which scintillator the event occurred. In 2010 development of a monolithic phoswich sensor technology was announced, departing from the discrete designs. This novel development, termed the ''continuous'' phoswich scintillator and detector, provides a number of bits of depth-of-interaction (DOI) information, a significant improvement over the 1 to 2 bits available previously with discrete phoswich scintillators. Phoswich applications are frequently seen in sensitive and low-background radiation sensors used in space research.

References

Characterization of Phoswich Scintillation Detectors for the Focal Plane Hodoscope of Magnetic Proton Recoil Spectrometers for Fusion Neutrons

DIGITAL PULSE SHAPE ANALYSIS WITH PHOSWICH DETECTOR S TO SIMPLIFY COINCIDENCE MEASUREMENTS OF RADIOACTIVE XENON

APPLICATION OF PHOSWICH DETECTORS FOR LUNG COUNTING PLUTONIUM-238
*
STUDY OF A TRIPLE-LAYER PHOSWICH DETECTOR FOR BETA AND GAMMA SPECTROSCOPY WITH MINIMAL CROSSTALK

External links

Phoswich Detectors For High Energy Backgrounds
(Saint-Gobain)

(Radiation Monitoring Devices, Inc.) Ionising radiation detectors {{physics-stub