Investigation into the use of position sensitive photomultiplier tubes for beta radiography

Various radioisotopes such as P³² and C¹⁴ are used as radiolabels for autoradiography in biological and gene research. We have investigated the possibility of using two types of photomultiplier tubes coupled to plastic and crystal scintillators to detect and quantify the beta emissions of P³² and C¹⁴ in amounts typical for autoradiography of dot-blot bioassays in the microtiter and other formats. The Hamamatsu R4760 (with 16 individual channels) and R2486 (a position sensitive PMT with 16×16 cross-wire anodes) were the two multichannel photomultiplier tubes tested. The levels of beta radiation typically found in autoradiographic experiments are shown to be detectable using plastic and crystal scintillators coupled to these photomultiplier tubes