Detection method and detector apparatus for correcting count rate for dead time

1. A method of detection of radiation emitted by a radiation source by a radiation detector, the method comprising:

providing at least one source of radiation;

providing a plurality of detectors capable of detecting radiation from the source; and

causing said source to emit radiation along a predetermined radiation path towards said detectors;

wherein during a measurement period, for each detector separately, the method comprises

detecting successive count events corresponding to photons from the source detected by the detector;

measuring a duration of each such count event to determine a dead time associated with each count event;

calculating a total dead time for the measurement period as the sum of each determined dead time associated with each count event;

determining a photon count rate from the total number of count events during the measurement period; and,

calculating a corrected count rate by applying a correction factor based on subtracting the total dead time from the measurement period.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the radiation is x-ray radiation or gamma radiation.

3. The method according to claim 1 wherein each of the detectors comprises a scintillator and a photodetector.

4. The method according to claim 1 wherein the detection of successive count events is performed by a pulse height threshold/peak analysis.

5. The method according to claim 4 wherein an event is counted when a pulse amplitude rises above a predetermined measurement threshold value, a peak pulse height for the event is measured, and an event duration is measured as the time duration that the pulse amplitude remains above the measurement threshold value or alternatively for the time duration that the pulse amplitude remains above some second predetermined threshold value.

6. The method according to claim 5 wherein a dead time for the event is determined to be the measured event duration or a period functionally related to the measured event duration.

7. The method according to claim 4 wherein the total number of count events during the measurement period is determined by: specifying a predetermined measurement window comprising an upper and lower bound for peak pulse amplitude, and recording a count event only for events where the pulse amplitude is between the said upper and lower bounds.

8. The method according to claim 1 wherein a cumulative count register and a cumulative dead time register are maintained and for each count event, the count register is incremented by one and the dead time register is incremented by the determined dead time.

9. The method according to claim 8 wherein at the end of the measurement period a reported total count is produced from the count register and a reported total dead time from the dead time and these are used to calculate a corrected count rate.

10. The method according to claim 1 wherein the detector is operated at a plurality of sampling energies.

11. The method according to claim 10 wherein a separate calculated correction is applied at each sampling energy.

12. An apparatus for detection of radiation emitted by a radiation source by a radiation detector, the apparatus comprising:

at least one source of radiation;

a plurality of detectors capable of detecting radiation from the source;

data collection and processing means associated with the detectors, the data collection and processing means being configured, for each detector separately, to:

detect successive count events corresponding to photons from the source detected by the detector;

measure a duration of each such count event to determine a dead time associated with each count event;

calculate a total dead time for the measurement period as the sum of each determined dead time associated with each count event;

determine a photon count rate from the total number of count events during the measurement period;

calculate a corrected count rate by applying a correction factor based on subtracting the total dead time from the measurement period.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12 further comprising a cumulative count register and a cumulative dead time register.