Gamma-ray spectrometry using scintillator detectors was once avoided, mainly because of poor detector resolution and the lack of high-precision spectrum analysis software.
However, after several new developments, this field is now undergoing a spectacular renaissance.

 Software tools have been developed to quantitatively analyse even complex scintillator spectra. 
The most suitable software is SODIGAM. It is the only program on the market that correctly assesses the shape of the baseline (i.e. the background under peaks) as well as the intrinsic shape of scintillator peaks. Therefore this program is well-suited to accurately analyse small peaks sitting on a high background or even complex shoulder peaks.

 Production of NaI(Tl) crystals has significantly improved, yielding crystals with resolution
 (i.e. peak width FWHM at 661.6 keV) often well below 7%

 The new BrilLanCe detectors :
     BrilLanCe 350   LaCl₃(Ce) with approx. 10% Ce
     BrilLanCe 380   LaBr₃(Ce) with approx.  5% Ce
have very good resolution of about 3%. Spectra are well characterized in terms of peakshape and baseline.

Therefore, in many applications one can now use room-temperature scintillator spectrometers instead of low-temperature high-purity germanium systems without loss of resolution or precision.

Significant advantages of scintillation detectors over HPGe are :
-   NO running costs and service personnel (no liquid nitrogen handling needed)
-   high mobility of the small scintillation spectrometer and associated system
-   several hours measuring time with portable PC (laptop) battery
-   high efficiency of the scintillator crystal
-   lower investment cost

On the following pages, several applications are presented as examples of using modern scintillation detectors with the spectrum analysis software SODIGAM.

Application 1 

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