Cascade summing corrections for HPGe spectrometers by the Monte Carlo method

Abstract

Cascade summing corrections for application in HPGe gamma ray spectrometry have been calculated numerically by the Monte Carlo method. An algorithm has been developed which follows the path in the decay scheme from the starting state at the precursor radionuclide decay level, down to the ground state of the daughter radionuclide. With this procedure, it was possible to calculate the cascade summing correction for all gamma ray transitions present in the decay scheme. Since the cascade correction requires the values of peak and total detection efficiencies, another code has been developed in order to estimate these parameters for point and cylindrical sources. The radionuclides 60Co, 133Ba and 131I were used for testing the procedure. The results were in good agreement with values in the literature.