Development of a beta spectrometry setup using metallic magnetic calorimeters

The precise knowledge of beta spectrum shapes is relevant in radionuclide metrology, e.g. when determining the activity of samples containing beta emitting isotopes, as well as in fundamental research or applications such as nuclear medicine. We present a newly developed beta spectrometer that utili...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of instrumentation Vol. 14; no. 8; p. P08012
Main Authors Paulsen, M., Beyer, J., Bockhorn, L., Enss, C., Kempf, S., Kossert, K., Loidl, M., Mariam, R., Nähle, O., Ranitzsch, P., Rodrigues, M.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Bristol IOP Publishing 08.08.2019
Subjects
Absorbers
Instrumentation and Detectors
Metal matrix composites
Nuclear Experiment
Nuclear medicine
Physics
Radioisotopes
Scientific imaging
Spectrometry
Spectroscopy
Superconducting quantum interference devices
source preparation
Superconducting QUantum Interference Device (SQUID)
4π absorber
Primary activity measurement
Data processing methods
signal processing
Cryogenic detector
Metallic Magnetic Calorimeter
Reference source
beta-rays
calorimeter
data acquisition
big data
calibration
radioactivity
high resolution
beta spectrometry
241Am
beta spectrum
nuclear medicine
metrology
Spectrometer
spectrum analysis
99Tc
spectrometry
beta spectrometer
detector
ionizing radiation
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Summary:The precise knowledge of beta spectrum shapes is relevant in radionuclide metrology, e.g. when determining the activity of samples containing beta emitting isotopes, as well as in fundamental research or applications such as nuclear medicine. We present a newly developed beta spectrometer that utilizes Metallic Magnetic Calorimeters (MMCs) which have 4π absorbers and operates at temperatures < 100 mK. Microfabricated MMC detectors designed for five beta energy intervals enable the measurement of beta spectra with endpoint energies Emax ranging from a few tens of keV up to ≈ 1 MeV. The different detector types are read out by Superconducting QUantum Interference Device (SQUID) current sensors with compatible input inductances. In particular, we discuss the MMC detector design, absorber/source preparation, data acquisition and handling of the relatively large measurement data sets. The realized setup allows for high resolution beta spectrometry, which was shown via a test measurement of 99Tc (Emax=293.8 keV) using an external photon-emitting 241Am calibration source.
ISSN:1748-0221
1748-0221
DOI:10.1088/1748-0221/14/08/P08012