24.00 CEC

This 2-day course is designed primarily for germanium detector spectroscopy, although many of the topics are also applicable to scintillation detectors. The course emphasizes the use of fundamental principles of physics to explain features found in spectra, and the creation of libraries to aid in the interpretation of spectra. Students should acquire the tools and information they need to: understand “phantom peaks”, optimize gamma nuclide libraries to accurately identify and quantify nuclide activity, reduce the reporting of unidentified peaks, utilize methods for counting “hot” samples, understand “Dead Time” and its implications, and optimize the analysis of spectral data. Students are encouraged to bring examples of their spectral files for examination during the course. Additional topics of special interest may be covered depending upon student interest. Lab exercises with simulators and spectra are employed to demonstrate lecture topics. Analysis algorithms discussed and demonstrated are from the standard Genie™ software.