Characterization and application of cerium bromide spectrometers for analysis of γ-ray emitting radionuclides in food matrices

Cerium bromide (CeBr3) scintillators are useful room temperature gamma-ray detectors that provide the robustness of a scintillator with improved resolution over traditional sodium iodide (NaI) detectors. This makes them attractive for field deployment or emergency response operations especially when combined with the power of Monte-Carlo based efficiency determinations. This work documents the characterization of CeBr3 detectors and the efficiency determination of a portable CeBr3 detector based gamma-ray detection system for food measurements.