The detection efficiency of phoswich detector starts to decrease when Compton scattering becomes significant. Events with energy deposit in both scintillators, if not rejected, are not useful for spectral analysis as the full energy of the incident photon cannot be reconstructed with conventional readout. We show that once the system response is carefully calibrated, the full energy of those double deposit events can be reconstructed using a waveform digitizer as the readout. Our experiment suggests that the efficiency of a photopeak at 662 keV can be increased by a factor of 2 using our LaBr3/NaI phoswich detector.
Sensitive X-ray polarimetry in the keV energy range can be achieved by measuring the azimuthal angle distribution of emitted electrons after the photoelectric absorption of X-rays in a micropattern gas detector. However, the initial direction of the electron is not readily measurable due to the randomization of its motion during energy loss. By using the Geant4, Maxwell and Garfield packages, we simulated the detected electron tracks following photoelectric absorption, electron drift and diffusion in the gas, and proposed a technique capable of reconstructing the initial direction of the emitted photoelectron. The technique allows us to measure the angular modulation of flux predicted for a polarized X-ray beam. We calculated the modulation factors in 2-10 keV with a gas mixture of neon and CO;, and discussed how electron diffusion along the drift will dilute the track and suppress the modulation. These results are useful for the design of the X-ray polarimeter.
The calibration detector of a gamma ray monitor （GRM） is designed to detect alpha particles from 241 Am and to send out the coincidence signal to the GRM X-ray detector. The silicon photomultiplier （SiPM）, as a novel photon device, is a good candidate to convert alpha-exciting fluorescent photons into electric signals. Three types of SiPMs from SSPM and MPPC, each having an active area of 3 mm×3 mm, were compared in the matter of the spectra from low-intensity light, dark count, crosstalk probability and I -V curve. The temperature coefficient of SSPM-0710G9MM was also characterized. The application of a SiPM on the GRM has been proved to be feasible.
