ANGLE-Advanced-Efficiency-Calibration-Software - ORTEC - #1

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ORTEC® ANGLE Advanced Efficiency Calibration Software for High Purity Germanium Detectors • An easy way to create HPGe efficiency calibrations for Marinelli Beakers, bottles and other sample shapes directly from a point source calibration. (No replicate standards required.) • Reads in GammaVision point source calibration, adjusts the calibration to the new geometry, and exports the revised calibration back to GammaVision. • WORKS WITH ANY DETECTOR. No need for expensive and time consuming “return to factory” characterization. • Works with a wide variety of HPGe Detector types from any manufacturer – templates included. • Works with the majority of container types commonly found in Nuclear Counting Laboratories – templates included. • Reduces radioactive waste disposal problems and lowers lab operational costs. Before a High Purity Germanium spectrometer is ready for use, it must be calibrated for energy and efficiency. Conventionally, the efficiency calibration is performed using a radioactive source. This source must be in a geometry that exactly mimics the container of the sample to be measured, as well as the physical make-up (matrix) of the sample. A typical laboratory could have 2, 3, or perhaps even more types of containers for holding samples. Add to this the varying types of matrices (soil, water, sludge, filters) and the cost of calibrating a detector can be condsiderable, not to mention the hazard of having to maintain so many radioactive standards. Since many of the nuclides in the calibration standard may be short lived, they must be replaced on a regular basis (a recurring cost). ANGLE uses a single reference efficiency curve calibration, which can be performed by the user in their own counting laboratory, and information about the detector, container, geometry, and source is then added to generate the efficiency calibrations. Since only one source and one count are needed, the time and money saved adds up quickly. ANGLE utilizes a mathematical concept of effective solid angle to derive multiple calibrations from the single reference calibration. ANGLE has been developed over 14 years and is now fully compatible with ORTEC’s GammaVision gamma spectroscopy software. How It Works An easy step by step process that allows the user create efficiency calibrations in moments. • Using GammaVision, count a mixed gamma point source, or a series of point sources with varying isotopes, to create energy/efficiency pairs. • Open ANGLE and enter the data for the Container, Geometry, Source, and Detector. • Import the energy/efficiency pair data from GammaVision to ANGLE. • ANGLE calculates a “relative efficiency curve calibration.” • Transfer the “relative efficiency” data back to GammaVision. • Start counting samples.