A method for measuring the detector response function for monochromatic electrons based on Compton scattering

Abstract

A method for calibrating the energy scale of a scintillation detector using γ rays has been proposed and implemented. The technique is based on Compton scattering in the scintillation detector, followed by photoelectric absorption of a scattered γ-ray photon in a Ge detector. The novelty of the method consists in placing the γ-ray source and the scintillation and Ge detectors tightly to each other. The method is efficient for detectors with a low-Z material for which the ratio of the cross sections for Compton scattering and photoeffect is great in value and the attenuation length of the γ-ray flux is comparable to the detector dimensions. The described technique can be used to precisely investigate the dependence of the light yield in a scintillator on the electron energy.