Experimental study on high dose rate response of cadmium zinc telluride detectors to pulsed X-ray

The linear response is the key property for a radiation detector to obtain accurate intensity of the radiation field. In this experiment, a high-intensity pulsed X-ray source, named “QiangGuang-I” is utilized to test the linear response of cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) detector. The total dose per pulse 20 cm from the pulse source is 200-3000 Gy. The full width at half maximum of each pulse is 20-30 ns, and the average energy of X-ray is approximately 1 MeV. Two detectors are placed in different intensities, and their responding curves are used to draw the Lissajous figure, analyzing the maximum energy dose rate of the CZT detector. The total dose of the pulsed X-ray into the experimental detectors is simultaneously measured by thermoluminescent dosimeter (TLD) chips. The result shows that the output of CZT detectors remains linear when the energy fluence rate is lower than 1017 MeV/(cm2·s).