It’s widely known that a smoke detector is a good ionizing radiation source, as they contain a small amount of americium-241, a side product of nuclear reactors. But what about other sources?

The photodiode is actually sensitive enough to detect the small amounts of gamma radiation produced from a smoke alarm americium source, and also registers [Alan]’s other more powerful ...

Chinese scientists are leveraging americium, which has usually been written ... or challenging environments where traditional ...