A revision of the virtual point detector model for calculating Nai(Tl) detector efficiency.

In present work, the validity of the virtual point detector (VPD) model for the NaI(Tl) detectors is studied and confirmed in the photon energy range of 60-1408 keV. The full energy peak efficiency (FEPE) of two NaI(Tl) detectors, which have scintillation crystal dimensions of 5.08 × 5.08 cm and 7.62 × 7.62 cm respectively, is measured for "point-like" radioactive sources on the symmetry axis with source-to-detector distances in the range of 2-40 cm. It is found that the VPD model is valid to fit too well to the experimental FEPE for the two surveyed NaI(Tl) detectors. The dependence of the VPD position on the incident photon energy for the NaI(Tl) detectors with different scintillation crystal dimensions is shown based on experimental data. A semi-empirical equation involving incident photon energy and source-to-detector distance is proposed to calculate the FEPE for the NaI(Tl) detectors. The calculated results for the two surveyed NaI(Tl) detectors by this equation are in a good agreement with experimental results for photon energies in the range of 344-1408 keV. However, the difference between experimental and calculated results is quite significant for source-to-detector close geometries for photon energies lower than 344 keV.