Incorporating X-ray summing into gamma-gamma signature quantification.

A method for quantifying coincidence signatures has been extended to incorporate the effects of X-ray summing, and tested using a high-efficiency γ-γ system. An X-ray library has been created, allowing all possible γ, X-ray and conversion electron cascades to be generated. The equations for calculating efficiency and cascade summing corrected coincidence signature probabilities have also been extended from a two γ, two detector 'special case' to an arbitrarily large system. The coincidence library generated is fully searchable by energy, nuclide, coincidence pair, γ multiplicity, cascade probability and the half-life of the cascade, allowing the user to quickly identify coincidence signatures of interest. The method and software described is inherently flexible, as it only requires evaluated nuclear data, an X-ray library, and accurate efficiency characterisations to quickly and easily calculate coincidence signature probabilities for a variety of systems. Additional uses for the software include the fast identification of γ coincidence signals with required multiplicities and branching ratios, identification of the optimal coincidence signatures to measure for a particular system, and the calculation of cascade summing corrections for single detector systems.