Liquid Scintillation Counting System

The Liquid Scintillation Counting System is used for measurement of tritium (an isotope of hydrogen) in water samples and the water in foodstuff samples.

The detector of this system is made up of two photo-multiplier tubes (PMTs) coupled to an optical chamber. Photons emitted by the scintillant after excitation by beta particles are captured and amplified by the PMTs to form electrical pulses which are stored as beta energy spectrum. The specific activity of tritium in the samples is obtained from the total counts of the spectrum.

The system has high counting efficiency due to total immersion of sample in the scintillant and the detector and hence is suitable for measurement of tritium, a low energy beta emitter.