Shield-free directional gamma-ray detector using small-angle Compton scattering

Kitayama, Yoshiharu  

A gamma-ray imager is a powerful tool for visualizing the distribution of radioactive materials. Recently, it has been applied to the decommissioning site of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. At the decommissioning site, an imager compact, lightweight, and capable of quantitative evaluation of radioactivity is demanded. The Gamma-ray Imager using Small-Angle Scattering (GISAS) was proposed as a gamma-ray imager that meets all these requirements. GISAS consists of several shield-free directional gamma-ray detectors that detect only small-angle Compton scattering. Simulations and experiments verified the feasibility of the shield-free directional gamma-ray detectors. The shield-free directional gamma-ray detector consists of a scatterer that detects small-angle Compton scattering and an absorber that detects the scattered gamma rays. By setting an appropriate energy window for each detector, only scattering events that can be considered almost straightforward are detected. Through simulations and experiments, we have confirmed that using a silicon drift detector as the scatterer and a Gd3Al2Ga3O12 scintillator as the absorber, we can detect only small-angle Compton scattering events and obtain directionality for 662 keV gamma rays.