Cherenkov Radiation Detector

Abstract

Most of Radiation detectors based on the Cherenkov Effect are essentially very bulky and expensive for schools and colleges. An inexpensive yet very compact radiation detector is designed, built and tested. It is used to measure the Cherenkov angles for natural radioactivity from sources as Cs137 p32 with energies 0.51 MeV, 1.17 Mev and 1.71 MeV respectively. It has angular percentage resolution of 4, has detector efficiency of 60%. The Cherenkov angle expected from 0.51 MeV Csl37 is 400 and the angle measured with the radiator is 41.60. It is known that 1.17 MeV Csl37 emits a cone of Cherenkov angle of 450 while the radiator measured 43024' angle. The determined angle for 1.71 MeV beta from p32 is 46014' as against the theoretical value of 470. The simple inexpensive radiator compares favourably with the very expensive heavy counters.