Feasibility evaluation of a direct detection method of alpha particles in water using YGAG plate with pulse shape analysis

Ce doped (YGd)₃(GaAl)₅O₁₂:Ce (YGAG) is a ceramic scintillator with high light output, and its decay times are different between alpha particles and gamma photons or beta particles. This characteristic may be applied to the direct measurement of alpha particles in water where the gamma photons or beta particles become background counts. Thus we proposed a radiation detector using a YGAG plate dipped in water that contained alpha radionuclides to detect alpha particles in water. The scintillation photons from the YGAG plate were detected by a position sensitive photomultiplier tube (PSPMT) set in water that contained alpha radionuclides. A YGAG plate (20 × 20 × 0.5 mm) was set on the bottom of a glass cup filled with water containing alpha radionuclides that emit alpha particles. The alpha particles near the YGAG plate were detected by the scintillator, and the scintillation light was detected by the PSPMT. For radon-containing water sampled from a hot spring, pulse shape spectra showed two peaks: one for the alpha particles and another for the beta particles and the gamma photons. By pulse shape discrimination for the peak of the alpha particles, their count rate decreased with a decay of Rn-222 (3.8 days). For tap water, the pulse shape distribution showed only one peak and the count rate was almost constant, indicating these counts were mainly from the background beta particles or gamma photons. We could show a detection principle for alpha radionuclides in water and this detection principle for alpha radionuclides in water might be a new method for estimating the alpha radionuclide concentration in water.