IEC 62372:2021

IEC 62372 ®
Edition 2.0 2021-02
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
Nuclear instrumentation – Housed scintillators – Test methods of light output
and intrinsic resolution
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IEC 62372 ®
Edition 2.0 2021-02
INTERNATIONAL
STANDARD
Nuclear instrumentation – Housed scintillators – Test methods of light output

and intrinsic resolution
INTERNATIONAL
ELECTROTECHNICAL
COMMISSION
ICS 27.120.01 ISBN 978-2-8322-9322-5

– 2 – IEC 62372:2021 © IEC 2021
CONTENTS
FOREWORD . 3
1 Scope . 5
2 Normative references . 5
3 Terms, definitions, symbols and abbreviated terms . 5
3.1 Terms and definitions . 5
3.2 Symbols and abbreviated terms . 7
4 Test methods of basic parameters of housed scintillators . 9
4.1 General . 9
4.1.1 Test conditions . 9
4.1.2 The sources of ionizing radiation . 9
4.1.3 The assembly test conditions . 10
4.2 Test methods of nonlinearity and instability of the assembly . 10
4.2.1 Nonlinearity measurement . 10
4.2.2 Instability measurement . 12
4.3 Test methods of the intrinsic resolution, light output of the housed scintillator
and PMT spectrometric constant . 13
4.3.1 Equipment . 13
4.3.2 Measurements . 13
4.3.3 Processing of results . 14
4.4 Test methods of the light output . 15
4.4.1 General . 15
4.4.2 Measurements . 15
4.4.3 Processing of results . 16
4.5 Test methods of the intrinsic resolution . 16
4.5.1 Determination of PMT spectrometric constant . 16
4.5.2 Test method of the intrinsic resolution for housed scintillator . 17
Bibliography . 19

Table 1 – Source of ionizing radiation . 9

INTERNATIONAL ELECTROTECHNICAL COMMISSION
____________
NUCLEAR INSTRUMENTATION – HOUSED SCINTILLATORS –
TEST METHODS OF LIGHT OUTPUT AND INTRINSIC RESOLUTION

FOREWORD
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International Standard IEC 62372 has been prepared by IEC technical committee 45: Nuclear
instrumentation.
This second edition cancels and replaces the first edition published in 2006. This edition
constitutes a technical revision.
This edition includes the following significant technical changes with respect to the previous
edition:
• Title has been modified.
• To review the existing requirements and to update the terminology, definitions and
normative references.
– 4 – IEC 62372:2021 © IEC 2021
The text of this International Standard is based on the following documents:
FDIS Report on voting
45/913/FDIS 45/915/RVD
Full information on the voting for the approval of this International Standard can be found in
the report on voting indicated in the above table.
This document has been drafted in accordance with the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.
The committee has decided that the contents of this document will remain unchanged until the
stability date indicated on the IEC website under "http://webstore.iec.ch" in the data related to
the specific document. At this date, the document will be
• reconfirmed,
• withdrawn,
• replaced by a revised edition, or
• amended.
NUCLEAR INSTRUMENTATION – HOUSED SCINTILLATORS –
TEST METHODS OF LIGHT OUTPUT AND INTRINSIC RESOLUTION

1 Scope
This document is applicable to housed scintillators for registration and spectrometry of alpha-,
beta-, gamma-, X-ray and neutron radiation.
The main parameters, such as a light output and intrinsic resolution are established. This
document specifies the requirements for the testing equipment and test methods of the basic
parameters of housed scintillators, such as:
• the direct method is applicable to measure the light output of housed scintillators based on
scintillation material. The housed scintillators certified by this method can be used as
working standard of housed scintillators (hereinafter: working standard) when performing
measurements by a relative method of comparison.
• the relative method of comparison with the working standard is applicable to housed
scintillators based on the same scintillation material as the working standard.
This document does not apply to gas or liquid scintillators and scintillators for counting and
current modes.
The numerical values of the parameters are set to the specific type of scintillators in the
specifications.
2 Normative references
There are no normative references in this document.
3 Terms, definitions, symbols and abbreviated terms
3.1 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following
addresses:
• IEC Electropedia: available at http://www.electropedia.org/
• ISO Online browsing platform: available at http://www.iso.org/obp
3.1.1
scintillator
luminescent material, usually liquid or solid, showing radioluminescence with a short afterglow
[SOURCE: IEC 60050-845:1987, 845-04-37]
3.1.2
housed scintillator
scintillator, housed in a container with a reflector and optical window

– 6 – IEC 62372:2021 © IEC 2021
3.1.3
scintillation detector
radiation detector consisting of a scintillator that is usually optically coupled to a
photosensitive device, directly or through light guides
Note 1 to entry: The scintillator consists of a scintillating material in which the ionizing particle produces a burst
of luminescence radiation along its path. A common scintillator is NaI(Tl).
[SOURCE: IEC 60050-395:2014, 395-03-01]
3.1.4
assembly
light protective chamber containing a housed scintillator, photomultiplier (PMT), PMT voltage
divider
Note 1 to entry: Assembly is used for testing of the housed scintillator.
3.1.5
light yield
η
ratio of scintillation photons summed energy (E ) to energy (E) lost by ionizing particles in the
p
scintillator
E
p
η=
E
Note 1 to entry: Value of η depends on type and energy of ionizing particle.
3.1.6
light output
C
ratio of total energy (L ) of scintillation photons, which pass through the output window of the
ph
housed scintillator of ionizing radiation, to energy (E), lost by ionizing particles in the
scintillator
L
ph
C=
E
3.1.7
intrinsic resolution of housed scintillator of ionizing radiation
R
d
component, given by housed scintillator of ionizing radiation to energy resolution of the
scintillation detector
Note 1 to entry: The intrinsic resolution R is defined from the relation:
d
2 2
R = R − R ,
d a pm
where
R is the energy resolution of the scintillation detector;
a
R is PMT intrinsic resolution.
pm
3.1.8
total absorption
...