Analysis of alpha particles spectra of the Radon and Thoron progenies generated by an electrostatic collection detector using new software

Abstract

A complete and detailed analysis of alpha spectra from the ²²²Rn and ²²⁰Rn progenies was performed by newly developed software. The software identifies the alpha peaks, performs appropriate fits and calculates the net area and its uncertainty, considering the entire background. The deconvolution of the overlapped peaks of ²¹⁸Po and ²¹²Bi allows us also to evaluate their minimum detectable area. The efficiency of the electrostatic detection method was recalculated and new useful considerations on the collected alpha emitters were made.

Keywords: Alpha-particle spectrometry; Peaks deconvolution; RaMonA collection efficiency; Radon-Thoron activity measurement.