Application of a stochastic TDCR model based on Geant4 for Cherenkov primary measurements.

Cherenkov measurements can be advantageously carried out using a counting instrumentation dedicated to liquid scintillation. In the case of radionuclide measurements, the interest of this technique is largely described in the literature. For instance, it is generally quoted that the possibility to measure directly the activity of aqueous solutions makes the sample preparation easier. Based on a three-photomultipliers apparatus, the Triple to Double Coincidence Ratio (TDCR) method is implemented in National Metrology Institutes for liquid scintillation measurements. Knowing the decay scheme associated with the radionuclide to be standardized, a free parameter model of light emission is constructed to determine the counter detection efficiency using the experimental TDCR value. Contrary to liquid scintillation, Cherenkov emission is characterized by a directional behavior. Instead of using an additional free parameter to take this effect into account, a stochastic modeling based on the Monte Carlo code Geant4 is proposed in order to extend the TDCR method to Cherenkov counting. The purpose of this model is to simulate the different optical processes of Cherenkov photons leading to the production of photoelectrons in the three-photomultipliers counter. The validation of this stochastic approach of the TDCR method for Cherenkov counting is carried out in the case of (90)Y activity measurements.