Detector (scintillation)

A scintillation detector measures ionizing radiation by using the excitation effect of incident radiation on a scintillating material, and detecting the resultant light pulses. It consists of a transparent scintillator which generates photons in response to incident radiation, and a sensitive photodetector (usually a photomultiplier tube, a CCD camera, or a photodiode), which converts the light to an electrical signal. Scintillation counters are widely used because they can be made inexpensively yet with good efficiency, and can measure both the intensity and the energy of incident radiation.

A large variety of scintillating materials are available:

1. organic (plastic, anthracene, ...)
2. inorganic (NaI, NaI, ZnS, ...)
3. liquid

Related concepts

• detector (gas amplification)
• detector (ionization)
• detector (photographic emulsion)