The ASEDRA algorithm (Advanced Synthetically Enhanced Detector Resolution Algorithm) is a tool developed at the University of Florida to synthetically enhance the resolved photopeaks derived from a characteristically poor resolution spectra collected at room temperature from scintillator crystal-photomultiplier detector, such as a NaI(Tl) system. This work reports on analysis of a side-by-side test comparing the identification capabilities of ASEDRA applied to a NaI(Tl) detector with HPGe results for a Plutonium Beryllium (PuBe) source containing approximately 47 year old weapons-grade plutonium (WGPu), a test case of real-world interest with a complex spectra including plutonium isotopes and 241Am decay products. The analysis included a comparison of photopeaks identified and photopeak energies between the ASEDRA and HPGe detector systems, and the known energies of the plutonium isotopes. ASEDRA's performance in peak area accuracy, also important in isotope identification as well as plutonium quality and age determination, was evaluated for key energy lines by comparing the observed relative ratios of peak areas, adjusted for efficiency and attenuation due to source shielding, to the predicted ratios from known energy line branching and source isotopics. The results show that ASEDRA has identified over 20 lines also found by the HPGe and directly correlated to WGPu energies.

Date Published: 4 April 2008
PDF: 11 pages
Proc. SPIE 6945, Optics and Photonics in Global Homeland Security IV, 694507 (4 April 2008); doi: 10.1117/12.777128

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 6945:
Optics and Photonics in Global Homeland Security IV
Craig S. Halvorson; Daniel Lehrfeld; Theodore T. Saito, Editor(s)