Open Gamma Detector
Open-source hardware for a DIY gamma-ray spectrometer using a NaI(Tl) scintillator, SiPM, and Raspberry Pi Pico 2.
What is Open Gamma Detector?
Open Gamma Detector is an open-source hardware project for building a DIY gamma-ray spectrometer. It uses a NaI(Tl) scintillation crystal and a silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) coupled with a Raspberry Pi Pico 2 microcontroller to detect and analyze gamma radiation. The device provides both scintillation counting and multichannel analyzer (MCA) functions, enabling users to record energy spectra of radioactive samples affordably.
Hobbyists, educators, researchers, and citizen scientists interested in radiation detection, environmental monitoring, or physics education who want an accessible, low-cost alternative to commercial gamma spectrometers.
It offers a complete, self-contained spectrometer design with open hardware files and firmware, significantly reducing cost (≈200 USD in parts) while maintaining hackability and integration flexibility via standard serial interfaces. Unlike proprietary systems, it encourages modification and community-driven improvements.
Overview
☢️👁️ Hardware for a hackable DIY gamma-ray spectrometer using a popular NaI(Tl) scintillator, SiPM and a Raspberry Pi Pico.
Use Cases
Best For
- Educational demonstrations of gamma spectroscopy in classrooms or workshops
- Environmental monitoring for radioactive contamination in soil or food samples
- DIY science projects involving radiation detection and isotope identification
- Low-cost research instrumentation for academic or citizen science initiatives
- Integrating gamma detection into Raspberry Pi or Arduino-based data logging systems
- Building custom radiation monitors for safety or experimental setups
Not Ideal For
- Professional laboratories requiring NIST-traceable calibration and certified accuracy for regulatory compliance.
- Applications needing real-time, high-throughput data acquisition with sub-microsecond timing for dynamic radiation fields.
- Environments with significant temperature fluctuations where stable, compensated measurements are critical without additional hardware.
- Projects where users cannot handle soldering, sourcing components, or assembling sensitive electronics like SiPMs and scintillators.
Pros & Cons
Pros
Total parts cost is around 200 USD, making it orders of magnitude cheaper than commercial gamma spectrometers, as highlighted in the README's value proposition.
Integrates scintillator, SiPM, and microcontroller on a single 120x50mm board with no external parts needed, simplifying setup compared to traditional fragmented systems.
Uses a Raspberry Pi Pico 2 programmable via drag-and-drop or Arduino IDE, with broken-out I2C, SPI, and UART headers for easy custom expansions like displays or data logging.
Operates at 5V without high-voltage power supplies, reducing safety risks and complexity associated with photomultiplier tubes, as emphasized in the features list.
Cons
The power supply lacks built-in temperature correction, causing SiPM gain to drift with ambient changes and affecting measurement accuracy, a limitation openly admitted in the README's 'Known Limitations' section.
Requires users to source and solder components like the SiPM and scintillator separately, which can be daunting for those without electronics experience and adds complexity beyond plug-and-play devices.
Features like automatic temperature compensation need an additional carrier board, and coincidence measurements are not fully implemented yet, as noted in the 'Some Ideas' section, limiting out-of-the-box capabilities.
Frequently Asked Questions
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