A Low Cost Detection System for Performing Nuclear Science Labs at High School and Undergraduate Institutions

Recent developments using the sound card in a personal computer and signal recognition software allows for NaI based gamma spectroscopy systems capable of performing pulse height analysis and multichannel scaling at a significant price reduction provided counting rate are kept below 2 kHz. Using one of these systems, we have modified a set of educational lab exercises designed previously to run on our more expensive detection systems for our undergraduates and high school students in our summer camps. These new labs provide comparable results for a fraction of the cost. Some of the exercises performed by students and high school teachers include calibrating a gamma detection system and using it to measure both the rest energy and charge of an electron, perfoming coincidence measurements of annihilation photons, and determining the half-life of a short lived radionuclide. A discussion of the gamma detection systems as well as the available labs will be presented.