{"id":26249,"date":"2020-02-11T14:17:34","date_gmt":"2020-02-11T14:17:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sitepourvtc.com\/?page_id=26249"},"modified":"2023-06-24T06:48:36","modified_gmt":"2023-06-24T06:48:36","slug":"dead-time-of-detectors","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sitepourvtc.com\/nuclear-engineering\/radiation-detection\/detectors-of-ionization-radiation\/dead-time-of-detectors\/","title":{"rendered":"Dead Time of Detectors"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Detector<\/a>
Detector of Ionizing Radiation – Geiger Tube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For radiation detection systems<\/a> that record pulses (discrete events)<\/strong>, the dead time<\/strong> is the time after each event during which the system cannot record another event. This phenomenon is very important, for example, for Geiger counters<\/a>. Because of the large avalanche induced by any ionization, a Geiger counter takes a long time (about 1 ms) to recover between successive pulses. Therefore, Geiger counters cannot measure high radiation rates due to the “dead time” of the tube.<\/p>\n

In other words, dead-time<\/strong> is when the detector is busy<\/strong> and cannot accept and process pulses. In the case of detectors of ionizing radiation, this phenomenon can have serious consequences since dead-time distorts outputs at high activities or high dose rates. The total dead time of a detection system is usually due to the contributions of the intrinsic dead time of the detector, the analog front end, and the data acquisition.<\/p>\n

Paralyzable and Non-paralyzable Detector<\/h2>\n

\"Dead<\/a>Because of the random nature of radioactive decay<\/a>, there is always some probability that a true event will be lost because another event is just recorded, and the detector cannot accept and process more than one pulse.<\/p>\n

There are two main dead-time characteristics of each detecting system:<\/p>\n