High count rate γ-ray spectroscopy with LaBr3:Ce scintillation detectors

The applicability of LaBr₃:Ce detectors for high count rate γ-ray spectroscopy is investigated. A 3 in.×3 in. LaBr₃:Ce detector is used in a test setup with radioactive sources to study the dependence of energy resolution and photo peak efficiency on the overall count rate in the detector. Digitized traces were recorded using a 500 MHz FADC and analysed with digital signal processing methods. Good performance is obtained using standard techniques up to about 500 kHz counting rate. A pile-up correction method is applied to the data in order to further improve the capabilities at even higher rates with a focus on recovering the losses in efficiency due to signal pile-up. It is shown that γ-ray spectroscopy can be performed with only moderate lossen in efficiency and high resolution at count rates even above 1 MHz and that the performance can be enhanced in the region between 500 kHz and 10 MHz by using the applied pile-up correction techniques.