Decontamination of PIPS Alpha Detectors via Sonication

Jeff Stanford

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

A method for reducing elevated background activity caused by recoil contamination in PIPS alpha detectors has been developed. A Branson sonicator and various cleaning agents were tested to clean and lower background levels on individual detectors. The effects of the cleaning on alpha resolution (FWHM) and detector efficiency were recorded. Sonication with cleaning agents can have a detrimental effect on those parameters, therefore attempt was made to maximize reduction of background activity while maintaining high resolution and high sensitivity.