XZ-Collimated Gamma-Ray Scanning: A Versatile Design for Cost-Effective Detector Characterization

The characterization of high-purity germanium (HPGe) detectors is essential for understanding and optimizing imaging and spectroscopic performance. Mobility, versatility, and cost pose challenges to collimator system design, where the high weight and price of collimator assemblies often limit options for precision scanning in one or more directions. We present an XZ motor-controlled collimated gamma-ray scanner to characterize the planar HPGe detectors. The design implements counterbalanced weights and weight transfer techniques to reduce the load on motorized stages, allowing for the application of commercial motion stages. The development and performance evaluation of the collimated scanning system will be discussed, highlighting the potential for reducing cost and increasing application versatility for precision scanning in both the horizontal and vertical direction, particularly in situations where submillimeter-scale spatial precision is required.