Sourceless gain stabilization for scintillation counting tools

A system for gain stabilization of a scintillation device, comprising:

• a reference light source;
• a scintillator, wherein the scintillator does not employ an intrinsic radioactive source;
• a photodetector optically coupled to the scintillator;
• and
• one or more processors coupled to the reference light source and photodetector and operable to cause the system to perform operations comprising:
• emitting light pulses into the scintillation device using a reference light source;
• in response to the light pulses, measuring a signal from the scintillation device;
• determining a magnitude representative of the measured signal;
• comparing the measured magnitude to a target reference magnitude, wherein the target reference magnitude is computed using:
• a first variable representing light output of the reference light source as a function of temperature;
• a second variable representing light output of the scintillator as a function of the temperature;
• and
• a degradation factor representing systematic gain shifts of the scintillation device;
• computing a gain adjustment that causes the measured magnitude to match the target reference magnitude;
• and
• applying the gain adjustment to the scintillation device.