Table of contents

In the field of gamma-ray spectroscopy with HPGe detectors, applied to measurements of activity when the sample to be measured is small and has low radioactivity, the well-type HPGe detectors are widely used. To determine the sample activity, the full-energy peak efficiency is needed. In this work, the efficiency transfer method (ET) in an integral form is proposed to calculate the full-energy peak efficiency and to correct the coincidence summing effect for the HPGe well-type detector. This approach is based on the calculation of the effective solid angles ratio for a well-type detector with a cylindrical source inside and an axial point source outside the detector cavity, taking into account the attenuation of the gamma-rays. The calculated values of the full-energy peak efficiency are found to be in a good agreement with the measured experimental data obtained by using a mixed radionuclide gamma-ray source containing ⁶⁰Co and ⁸⁸Y.

The central detector in the MuSun experiment is a pad-plane time projection ionization chamber that operates without gas amplification in deuterium at 31 K; it is used to measure the rate of the muon capture process μ⁻+d→n+n+ν_μ. A new charge-sensitive preamplifier, operated at 140 K, has been developed for this detector. It achieved a resolution of 4.5 keV(D₂) or 120 e⁻ RMS with zero detector capacitance at 1.1 μ s integration time in laboratory tests. In the experimental environment, the electronic resolution is 10 keV(D₂) or 250 e⁻ RMS at a 0.5 μ s integration time. The excellent energy resolution of this amplifier has enabled discrimination between signals from muon-catalyzed fusion and muon capture on chemical impurities, which will precisely determine systematic corrections due to these processes. It is also expected to improve the muon tracking and determination of the stopping location.

The KArlsruhe TRItium Neutrino (KATRIN) experiment is a next-generation, large-scale tritium β-decay experiment to determine the neutrino mass by investigating the kinematics of tritium β-decay with a sensitivity of 200 meV/c² using the MAC-E filter technique. In order to reach this sensitivity a low background level of 10⁻² counts per second (cps) is required. A major background concern in MAC-E filters is the presence of Penning traps. A Penning trap is a special configuration of electromagnetic fields that allows the storage of electrically charged particles. This paper describes the mechanism of Penning discharges and the corresponding measurements performed at the test setup of the KATRIN pre-spectrometer. These investigations led to the conclusion that the observed electric breakdown, strong discharges and extremely large background rates were due to discharges caused by Penning traps located at both ends of the pre-spectrometer. Furthermore, the paper describes the design of a new set of electrodes (modified ground electrodes and new ``anti-Penning'' electrodes) to successfully remove these traps. After the installation of these electrodes in the pre-spectrometer, the measurements confirmed that the strong Penning discharges disappeared. The experience gained from the pre-spectrometer was used to design the electrode system of the main spectrometer. Recent measurements with the main spectrometer showed no indications of Penning trap related backgrounds.

Three types of SiPMs (Silicon Photomultiplier) with an active area of 3 × 3 mm² manufactured by KETEK with cell sizes of 50 μm (PM3350), 60 μm (PM3360) and 75 μm (PM3375) have been investigated. All devices have optical trenches in between the cells to suppress direct crosstalk. Their breakdown voltage at room temperature is about 23 V and the gain at an overvoltage U_over = 3.4 V is > 6·10⁶. The temperature variation of the breakdown voltage is < 16 mV/K and the gain coefficient with temperature is < 1% for overvoltages U_over > 1.7 V. The photodetection efficiency (PDE) at 420 nm and U_over = 3.4 V is 51% for PM3350, 55% for PM3360 and 58% for PM3375. At U_over = 3.4 V, the dark count rates are < 470 kHz/mm² at 20°C and the afterpulse probability is < 9% at −20°C. Single photon timing of 230 ps FWHM for PM3350, 320 ps for PM3360 and 375 ps for PM3375 have been achieved. To test their performance in PET (Positron Emission Tomography), energy spectra of ²²Na with LYSO (Lutetium Yttrium Oxyorthosilicate, Lu_1.8Y_.2SiO₅:Ce) and GAGG (Gadolinium Aluminum Gallium Garnet, Gd₃(Ga,Al)₅O₁₅:Ce) scintillators with a size of 2 × 2×6 mm³ have been acquired. The saturation corrected energy resolution (FHWM) at 511 keV was with LYSO 12.3% for PM3350, 13.4% for PM3360, 12.4% for PM3375 and with GAGG 10.8% for PM3350. Coincidence timing (FWHM) at U_over = 3.4 V was with LYSO 174 ps for PM3350, 178 ps for PM3360, 157 ps for PM3375 and with GAGG 430 ps for PM3350.

A Central Laser Facility is a system composed of a laser placed at a certain distance from a light-detector array, emitting fast light pulses, typically in the vertical direction, with the aim to calibrate that array. During calibration runs, all detectors are pointed towards the same portion of the laser beam at a given altitude. Central Laser Facilities are used for various currently operating ultra-high-energy cosmic ray and imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescope arrays. In view of the future Cherenkov Telescope Array, a similar device could provide a fast calibration of the whole installation at different wavelengths. The relative precision (i.e. each individual telescope with respect to the rest of the array is expected) to be better than 5%, while an absolute calibration should reach a precisions of 6–11%, if certain design requirements are met. Additionally, a preciser monitoring of the sensitivity of each telescope can be made on time-scales of days to years.

The simulation of Micro Pattern Gaseous Detectors (MPGDs) signal response is an important and powerful tool for the design and optimization of such detectors. However, several attempts to exactly simulate the effective gas gain have not been completely successful. Namely, the gain stability over time has not been fully understood. Charging-up of the insulator surfaces have been pointed as one of the responsible for the difference between experimental and Monte Carlo results. This work describes two iterative methods to simulate the charging-up in one MPGD device, the Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM). The first method, which uses a constant step size for avalanches time evolution, is very detailed but slow to compute. The second method instead uses a dynamic step-size that improves the computing time. Good agreement between both methods was achieved. Comparison with experimental results shows that charging-up plays an important role in detectors operation, explaining the time evolution of the gain. However it doesn't seem to be the only responsible for the difference between measurements and Monte Carlo simulations.

The liquid argon calorimeter is a key component of the ATLAS detector installed at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The primary purpose of this calorimeter is the measurement of electron and photon kinematic properties. It also provides a crucial input for measuring jets and missing transverse momentum. An advanced data monitoring procedure was designed to quickly identify issues that would affect detector performance and ensure that only the best quality data are used for physics analysis. This article presents the validation procedure developed during the 2011 and 2012 LHC data-taking periods, in which more than 98% of the proton-proton luminosity recorded by ATLAS at a centre-of-mass energy of 7–8 TeV had calorimeter data quality suitable for physics analysis.

We present a method to reach electric field intensity as high as 400 kV/cm in liquid argon for cathode-ground distances of several millimeters. This can be achieved by suppressing field emission from the cathode, overcoming limitations that we reported earlier.

The intrinsic time structure of hadronic showers influences the timing capability and the required integration time of hadronic calorimeters in particle physics experiments, and depends on the active medium and on the absorber of the calorimeter. With the CALICE T3B experiment, a setup of 15 small plastic scintillator tiles read out with Silicon Photomultipliers, the time structure of showers is measured on a statistical basis with high spatial and temporal resolution in sampling calorimeters with tungsten and steel absorbers. The results are compared to GEANT4 (version 9.4 patch 03) simulations with different hadronic physics models. These comparisons demonstrate the importance of using high precision treatment of low-energy neutrons for tungsten absorbers, while an overall good agreement between data and simulations for all considered models is observed for steel.

Low-pressure gas Time Projection Chambers being developed for directional dark matter searches offer a technology with strong particle identification capability combined with the potential to produce a definitive detection of Galactic Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) dark matter. A source of events able to mimic genuine WIMP-induced nuclear recoil tracks arises in such experiments from the decay of radon gas inside the vacuum vessel. The recoils that result from associated daughter nuclei are termed Radon Progeny Recoils (RPRs). We present here experimental data from a long-term study using the DRIFT-II directional dark matter experiment at the Boulby Underground Laboratory of the RPRs, and other backgrounds that are revealed by relaxing the normal cuts that are applied to WIMP search data. By detailed examination of event classes in both spatial and time coordinates using 3.5 years of data, we demonstrate the ability to determine the origin of 4 specific background populations and describe development of new technology and mitigation strategies to suppress them.

We propose a line code that has fast resynchronization capability and low latency. Both the encoder and decoder have been implemented in FPGAs. The encoder has also been implemented in an ASIC. The latency of the whole optical link (not including the optical fiber) is estimated to be less than 73.9 ns. In the case of radiation-induced link synchronization loss, the decoder can recover the synchronization in 25 ns. The line code will be used in the ATLAS liquid argon calorimeter Phase-I trigger upgrade and can also be potentially used in other LHC experiments.

For independent phase and amplitude control, RF cavities are often driven by one power source per cavity. In many cases it would be advantageous in terms of cost to instead use one higher power source for many cavities. Vector modulators have been developed, which, when used with a single source provide for the independent phase and amplitude control which would have been otherwise lost. The key components of these vector modulators are a novel type of phase shifter — adjustable fast phase shifters with perpendicularly biased garnets. The vector modulators have been constructed and used with a single klystron in a 3.4 MeV test linac to successfully accelerate proton beam.

Currently, most cosmic ray data are obtained by detectors on satellites, aircraft, high-altitude balloons and ground (neutron monitors). In our work, we examined whether Liulin semiconductor spectrometers (simple silicon planar diode detectors with spectrometric properties) located at high mountain observatories could contribute new information to the monitoring of cosmic rays by analyzing data from selected solar events between 2005 and 2013. The decision thresholds and detection limits of these detectors placed at Jungfraujoch (Switzerland; 3475 m a.s.l.; vertical cut-off rigidity 4.5 GV) and Lomnický štít (Slovakia; 2633 m a.s.l.; vertical cut-off rigidity 3.84 GV) high-mountain observatories were determined. The data showed that only the strongest variations of the cosmic ray flux in this period were detectable. The main limitation in the performance of these detectors is their small sensitive volume and low sensitivity of the PIN photodiode to neutrons.

Here we report the first results of a search of a signature for picosecond time stamps of the interaction between ionizing particles and transparent crystalline media. The induced absorption with sub-picosecond rise time observed in a cerium fluoride scintillation single crystal under UV excitation is directly associated with the ionization of Ce³⁺ atoms in CeF₃crystals, and the very fast occurrence thereof can be used to generate picosecond-precise time stamps corresponding to the interaction of ionizing particles with the crystal in high energy physics experiments.

The silicon drift detectors are at the basis of the instrumentation aboard the Large Observatory For x-ray Timing (LOFT) satellite mission, which underwent a three year assessment phase within the ``Cosmic Vision 2015–2025'' long-term science plan of the European Space Agency. Silicon detectors are especially sensitive to the displacement damage, produced by the non ionising energy losses of charged and neutral particles, leading to an increase of the device leakage current and thus worsening the spectral resolution.

During the LOFT assessment phase, we irradiated two silicon drift detectors with a proton beam at the Proton Irradiation Facility in the accelerator of the Paul Scherrer Institute and we measured the increase in leakage current. In this paper we report the results of the irradiation and we discuss the impact of the radiation damage on the LOFT scientific performance.

Solid-state detectors that operate in orbit are required to withstand harsh space environment conditions. Among the various phenomena able to damage the sensors, X-ray detectors are subjected to impacts of orbital debris and micrometeoroids whenever, to be sensitive to low energy photons, they need to be ``directly'' exposed to the sky. The LOFT mission, proposed for the M3 class opportunity of the ESA Cosmic Vision, has a very-large sensitive area (greater than 10 m²) made of Silicon Drift Detectors (SDD). Moreover, the satellite includes an X-ray Wide-Field Monitor based on the same SDD detectors. Here we present the results of a test campaign at the Cosmic Dust Accelerator Facility at MPIK in Heidelberg aimed at the space qualification of the detectors with respect to this phenomenon.

A large area, 120 × 72 mm², linear Silicon Drift Detector (SDD) has been developed for X-ray spectroscopy in the 2-50 keV energy range. Elaborated via a number of prototypes, the final detector design, REDSOX1, features elements to meet the requirements of a modern space-borne X-ray detector with a power consumption per sensitive area below 0.5 mW/cm², offering the possibility to perform timing and spectroscopy X-ray observations on a ten microseconds scale.

In this paper measurements of emission spectra, light output and nonproportional response of CeF₃ scintillators doped with Ca, Sr, Ba and Pr were conducted. Results showed degradation of the light output for the doped samples in comparison with an undoped CeF₃. For each scintillator the nonproportional response on gamma radiation showed unusual lack of saturation at 100 keV, as observed previously for undoped CeF₃ samples.

Room Temperature Vulcanized (RTV) silicone compounds are commonly used to bond optical components. For our application, we needed to identify an adhesive with good ultraviolet transmission characteristics, to couple photomultipliers to quartz windows in a Heavy Gas Čerenkov detector that is being constructed for Experimental Hall C of Jefferson Lab to provide π/K separation up to 11 GeV/c. To this end, we present the light transmission results for Momentive RTV615 silicone rubber compound for wavelengths between 195-400 nm, obtained with an adapted reflectivity apparatus at Jefferson Lab. All samples cured at room temperature have transmissions ∼ 93% for wavelengths between 360-400 nm and fall sharply below 230 nm. Wavelength dependent absorption coefficients were extracted with four samples of different thicknesses cured at normal temperature (25° C for 7 days). The absorption coefficient drops approximately two orders in magnitude from 220-400 nm, exhibiting distinct regions of flattening near 250 nm and 330 nm. We also investigated the effect of a high temperature curing method (100° C for 1 hour) and found 5-10% better transmission than with the normal method. The effect was more significant with larger sample thickness (3.35 mm) over the wavelength range of 220-280 nm.

The design, development and commissioning of 1 MV pulsed electron accelerator producing Flash X-Rays is described in this paper. This pulsed power system is based on bipolar MARX generator and Blumlein followed by Explosive electron emission diode assembly. The peak pulsed power is ∼ 30 GW. The electron energies in the range of 400 keV to 1030 keV are produced and delivered to experimental load of Industrial diode. Electrons are emitted from a stainless steel ring at ground potential by explosive field emission and bombard the anode tungsten pin for flash X-rays generation. The relativistic electron beam has been simulated within the diode chamber and pattern shows the beam propagation. Imaging plates are used to characterize the source size and optimization has been reported.

We present the design and preliminary calibration results of a novel highly miniaturised particle radiation monitor (HMRM) for spacecraft use. The HMRM device comprises a telescopic configuration of active pixel sensors enclosed in a titanium shield, with an estimated total mass of 52 g and volume of 15 cm³. The monitor is intended to provide real-time dosimetry and identification of energetic charged particles in fluxes of up to 10⁸ cm⁻² s⁻¹ (omnidirectional). Achieving this capability with such a small instrument could open new prospects for radiation detection in space.

SHIRaC is a buffer gas radiofrequency quadrupole cooler, part of SPIRAL 2 facility, at GANIL in France. It is designed to cool low energy ion beams with emittances up to 80 π.mm.mrad and currents up to 1 μA. It is devoted to reduce the beam parameters; less than 3 π.mm.mrad of emittance and around 1 eV of spread energy, and to transmit more than 60% of ions. However, to achieve the least possible emittance, spread energy and ion transmission, the space charge has been overcome using high confining RF amplitude.

Numerical simulations have been developed in order to study and evaluate the space charge effects on the beam parameters and the ion transmission. The simulation results have shown that the main degradations of these parameters stem from this effect. The ion transmission decreases progressively with the beam current and it nevertheless remains above 65%. The emittance and the spread energy increase with the beam current while staying below 2.4 π.mm.mrad and 5.9 eV respectively.

In this paper we present the results for the ion mobility measurements made in gaseous mixtures of xenon (Xe) and nitrogen (N₂) for low reduced electric fields (in the 15 Td to 30 Td range), at room temperature. The choice of reduced electric fields was guided by typical gaseous detector's demands. In the 0–100% range of Xe concentrations in the mixture, only one peak was observed which was attributed to Xe₂⁺; in fact its mobility was found to follow Blanc's law. A typical time-of-arrival spectrum for 90% Xe and 10% N₂ is shown. The reduced mobilities, obtained from the peaks, are calculated and presented in this paper.

We present a measurement of multiple Coulomb scattering of 1 to 6 GeV/c electrons in thin (50–140 μm) silicon targets. The data were obtained with the EUDET telescope Aconite at DESY and are compared to parametrisations as used in the Geant4 software package. We find good agreement between data and simulation in the scattering distribution width but large deviations in the shape of the distribution. In order to achieve a better description of the shape, a new scattering model based on a Student's t distribution is developed and compared to the data.

The readout of silicon strip sensors in the upgraded Tracker System of Large Hadron Collider beauty (LHCb) experiment will require a novel complex Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC). The ASIC will extract and digitise analogue signal from the sensor and subsequently will perform digital processing and serial data transmission. One of the key processing blocks, placed in each channel, will be an Analogue to Digital Converter (ADC). A prototype of fast, low-power 6-bit Successive Approximation Register (SAR) ADC was designed, fabricated and tested. The measurements of ADC prototypes confirmed simulation results showing excellent overall performance. In particular, very good resolution with Effective Number Of Bits (ENOB) 5.85 was obtained together with very low power consumption of 0.35 mW at 40 MS/s sampling rate. The results of the performed static and dynamic measurements confirm excellent ADC operation for higher sampling rates up to 80 MS/s.

The Liquid Argon Purity Demonstrator was an R&D test stand designed to determine if electron drift lifetimes adequate for large neutrino detectors could be achieved without first evacuating the cryostat. We describe here the cryogenic system, its operations, and the apparatus used to determine the contaminant levels in the argon and to measure the electron drift lifetime. The liquid purity obtained by this system was facilitated by a gaseous argon purge. Additionally, gaseous impurities from the ullage were prevented from entering the liquid at the gas-liquid interface by condensing the gas and filtering the resulting liquid before returning to the cryostat. The measured electron drift lifetime in this test was greater than 6 ms, sustained over several periods of many weeks. Measurements of the temperature profile in the argon, to assess convective flow and boiling, were also made and are compared to simulation.

Molecular imaging is reshaping clinical practice in the last decades, providing practitioners with non-invasive ways to obtain functional in-vivo information on a diversity of relevant biological processes. The use of molecular imaging techniques in preclinical research is equally beneficial, but spreads more slowly due to the difficulties to justify a costly investment dedicated only to animal scanning. An alternative for lowering the costs is to repurpose parts of old clinical scanners to build new preclinical ones. Following this trend, we have designed, built, and characterized the performance of a portable system that can be attached to a clinical gamma-camera to make a preclinical single photon emission computed tomography scanner. Our system offers an image quality comparable to commercial systems at a fraction of their cost, and can be used with any existing gamma-camera with just an adaptation of the reconstruction software.

Polarised electron and positron beams are key ingredients to the physics programme of future linear colliders. Due to the chiral nature of weak interactions in the Standard Model — and possibly beyond — the knowledge of the luminosity-weighted average beam polarisation at the e⁺e⁻ interaction point is of similar importance as the knowledge of the luminosity and has to be controlled to permille-level precision in order to fully exploit the physics potential. The current concept to reach this challenging goal combines measurements from Laser-Compton polarimeters before and after the interaction point with measurements at the interaction point. A key element for this enterprise is the understanding of spin-transport effects between the polarimeters and the interaction point as well as collision effects. We show that without collisions, the polarimeters can be cross-calibrated to 0.1 %, and we discuss in detail the impact of collision effects and beam parameters on the polarisation value relevant for the interpretation of the e⁺e⁻collision data.

We present a new concept for anti-neutrino detection, an organic liquid TPC with a volume of the order of m³ and an energy resolution of the order of 1% at 3 MeV and a sub-cm spatial resolution.

The magnetised Iron CALorimeter detector (ICAL), proposed to be built at the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO), is designed to study atmospheric neutrino oscillations. The ICAL detector is optimized to measure the muon momentum, its direction and charge. A GEANT4-based package has been developed by the INO collaboration to simulate the ICAL geometry and propagation of particles through the detector. The simulated muon tracks are reconstructed using the Kalman Filter algorithm. Here we present the first study of the response of the ICAL detector to muons using this simulations package to determine the muon momentum and direction resolutions as well as their reconstruction and charge identification efficiencies. For 1–20 GeV/c muons in the central region of the detector, we obtain an average angle-dependent momentum resolution of 9–14%, an angular resolution of about a degree, reconstruction efficiency of about 80% and a correct charge identification of about 98%.

This article is a short summary of the talk presented at 2014 Instrumentation Conference in Novosibirsk about Fermilab's experimental program and future plans. It includes brief description of the P5 long term planning progressing in US as well as discussion of the future accelerators considered at Fermilab.

In this paper, we sumarized a Bakelite Resistive Plate Chamber (RPC) with non-oil surface treatment. This type of RPC has been installed and run smoothly in BESIII Muon identification system and Daya Bay cosmic Muon veto system. Based on its good performances, it has been futher studied as the sensitive detector of a digital hadron calorimeter for measuring the energies of particles in a hadron jet and as a thermal neutron detector. In addition, since the bulk resistivity of Bakelite plates can be controlled, futher developments with low bulk resistivity are being undertaken to guarantee high rate capability in experiments.

The pixel detector is the innermost tracking device in CMS, reconstructing interaction vertices and charged particle trajectories. The sensors located in the innermost layers of the pixel detector must be upgraded for the ten-fold increase in luminosity expected at the High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC). As a possible replacement for planar sensors, 3D silicon technology is under consideration due to its good performance after high radiation fluence. In this paper, we report on pre- and post- irradiation measurements of CMS 3D pixel sensors with different electrode configurations from different vendors. The effects of irradiation on electrical properties, charge collection efficiency, and position resolution are discussed. Measurements of various test structures for monitoring the fabrication process and studying the bulk and surface properties of silicon sensors, such as MOS capacitors, planar and gate-controlled diodes are also presented.

The paper reports on two particle identification systems for the Belle II spectrometer, on the motivation for the upgrade of the Belle PID systems, the design criteria, and the chosen PID methods. It also discusses the status of the project.

The second generation B-factory project at KEK, Belle II/SuperKEKB, to explore new physics at the precision frontier, is now under construction. In this paper, the present status of SuperKEKB accelerator components as well as the Belle II detector upgrade is described.

The Multi-Purpose Detector (MPD) is designed to study heavy-ion collisions at the Nuclotron-based heavy Ion Collider fAcility (NICA) at JINR, Dubna. The detector will comprise a superconducting solenoid equipped with three dimensional tracking system composed of a silicon microstrip vertex detector followed by a large volume time-projection chamber and a particle identification system based on time-of flight measurements and calorimetry. In this paper a few parts of apparatus are described and their tracking and particle identification parameters are discussed in some detail.

A new imaging system consisting of a high-sensitivity complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) sensor, a microscope and a new scintillator, Ce-doped Gd₃(Al,Ga)₅O₁₂ (Ce:GAGG) grown by the Czochralski process, has been developed. The noise, the dark current and the sensitivity of the CMOS camera (ORCA-Flash4.0, Hamamatsu) was revised and compared to a conventional CMOS, whose sensitivity is at the same level as that of a charge coupled device (CCD) camera. Without the scintillator, this system had a good position resolution of 2.1 ± 0.4 μm and we succeeded in obtaining the alpha-ray images using 1-mm thick Ce:GAGG crystal. This system can be applied for example to high energy X-ray beam profile monitor, etc.

For the preservation of buildings and other cultural heritage, the application of various conservation products such as consolidants or water repellents is often used. X-ray radiography utilizing semiconductor particle-counting detectors stands out as a promising tool in research of consolidants inside natural building stones. However, a clear visualization of consolidation products is often accomplished by doping with a contrast agent, which presents a limitation. This approach causes a higher attenuation for X-rays, but also alters the penetration ability of the original consolidation product. In this contribution, we focus on the application of Medipix type detectors newly equipped with a 1 mm thick Si sensor. This thicker sensor has enhanced detection efficiency leading to extraordinary sensitivity for monitoring consolidants and liquids in natural building stones even without any contrast agent. Consequently, methods for the direct monitoring of organosilicon consolidants and dynamic visualization of the water uptake in the Opuka stone using high-contrast X-ray radiography are demonstrated. The presented work demonstrates a significant improvement in the monitoring sensitivity of X-ray radiography in stone consolidation studies and also shows advantages of this detector configuration for X-ray radiography in general.

Silicon detectors made on p-substrates are expected to have a better radiation hardness as compared to detectors made on n-substrates. However, the fixed positive oxide charges induce an inversion layer of electrons in the substrate, which connects the pixels. The common means of solving this problem is by using a p-spray, individual p-stops or a combination of the two. Here, we investigate the use of field plates to suppress the fixed positive charges and to prevent the formation of an inversion layer. The fabricated detector shows a high breakdown voltage and low interpixel leakage current for a structure using biased field plates with a width of 20 μm. By using a spice model for simulation of the preamplifier, a cross talk of about 1.6% is achieved with this detector structure. The cross talk is caused by capacitive and resistive coupling between the pixels.

2-dimensional position sensitive detectors are used for pulsed neutron imaging and at each pixel of the detector a time of flight spectrum is recorded. Therefore, a transmission spectrum through the object has wavelength dependent structure reflecting the neutron total cross section. For such measurements, the detectors are required to have ability to store neutron events as a function of the flight time as well as to have good spatial resolution. Furthermore, high counting rate is also required at the high intensity neutron sources like J-PARC neutron source in Japan. We have developed several types of detectors with different characteristics; two counting type detectors for high counting rate with coarse spatial resolution and one camera type detector for high spatial resolution. One of counting type detectors is a pixel type. The highest counting rate is about 28 MHz. Better spatial resolution is obtained by a GEM detector. Effective area is 10 × 10 cm², pixel size is 0.8 mm. The maximum counting rate is 3.65 MHz. To get higher spatial resolution we are now developing the camera type detector system using a neutron image intensifier, which have image integration function as a function of time of flight. We have succeeded to obtain time dependent images in this camera system. By using these detectors we performed transmission measurements for obtaining the crystallographic information and elemental distribution images.

Results obtained from numerical calculations of and experimental studies on the pulse height distribution inherent in ionizing radiation gallium arsenide sensors as a function of the design features of the devices and electrophysical characteristics of the detector material are presented. It is shown that the pulse height distribution is defined by the distribution pattern of the nonequilibrium charge carrier lifetime and by the electric field profile in the bulk of the sensor. Investigations on the detector sensitivity to X-ray energies in the range between 40 and 150 keV were performed. The sensor polarization was found to produce only a marginal effect compensated by an increase in the bias voltage. Prototype pixel sensors measuring 256 × 256 and 512 × 768 pixels with a 55 μm pitch and a 500 μm thick sensitive layer were produced. The dependence of the photocurrent and count rate on the X-ray radiation intensity and bias voltage applied to the sensor was examined. In the 40–80 keV energy range, the maximum count rate amounted to 800 kHz/pixel for a negative sensor bias voltage of 800 V. The sensors are demonstrated to provide spatial resolution varying with the pixel pitch and to enable high-quality X-ray images to be obtained.

It is always important to test new imagers for a mosaic camera before device acceptance and constructing the mosaic. This is particularly true of the LSST CCDs due to the fast beam illumination: at long wavelengths there can be significant beam divergence (defocus) inside the silicon because of the long absorption length for photons near the band gap. Moreover, realistic sky scenes need to be projected onto the CCD focal plane Thus, we need to design and build an f/1.2 re-imaging system. The system must simulate the entire LSST¹ operation, including a sky with galaxies and stars with approximately black-body spectra superimposed on a spatially diffuse night sky emission with its complex spectral features.

An important trend in the design of readout electronics working in the single photon counting mode for hybrid pixel detectors is to minimize the single pixel area without sacrificing its functionality. This is the reason why many digital and analog blocks are made with the smallest, or next to smallest, transistors possible. This causes a problem with matching among the whole pixel matrix which is acceptable by designers and, of course, it should be corrected with the use of dedicated circuitry, which, by the same rule of minimizing devices, suffers from the mismatch. Therefore, the output of such a correction circuit, controlled by an ultra-small area DAC, is not only a non-linear function, but it is also often non-monotonic. As long as it can be used for proper correction of the DC operation points inside each pixel, it is acceptable, but the time required for correction plays an important role for both chip verification and the design of a big, multi-chip system. Therefore, we present two algorithms: a precise one and a fast one. The first algorithm is based on the noise hits profiles obtained during so called threshold scan procedures. The fast correction procedure is based on the trim DACs scan and it takes less than a minute in a SPC detector systems consisting of several thousands of pixels.

In ordinary CT scan, so called full field-of-view (FFOV) scan, in which the x-ray beam span covers the whole section of the body, a large number of projections are necessary to reconstruct high resolution images. However, excessive x-ray dose is a great concern in FFOV scan. Region-of-interest (ROI) scan is a method to visualize the ROI in high resolution while reducing the x-ray dose. But, ROI scan suffers from bright-band artifacts which may hamper CT-number accuracy. In this study, we propose an image reconstruction method to eliminate the band artifacts in the ROI scan. In addition to the ROI scan with high sampling rate in the view direction, we get FFOV projection data with much lower sampling rate. Then, we reconstruct images in the compressed sensing (CS) framework with dual resolutions, that is, high resolution in the ROI and low resolution outside the ROI. For the dual-resolution image reconstruction, we implemented the dual-CS reconstruction algorithm in which data fidelity and total variation (TV) terms were enforced twice in the framework of adaptive steepest descent projection onto convex sets (ASD-POCS). The proposed method has remarkably reduced the bright-band artifacts at around the ROI boundary, and it has also effectively suppressed the streak artifacts over the entire image. We expect the proposed method can be greatly used for dual-resolution imaging with reducing the radiation dose, artifacts and scan time.

The CBM time of flight wall is proposed to be built with MRPC technology. In the past few years we have successfuly improved the rate capability of MRPCs to CBM level. However, in a relative high particle multiplicity situation (over 20 kHz/cm²), multi-hit capability is one of the most demanding requirement of the detector. In a free running mode too many noise not only affect the performance of MRPC but also enlarge the data file or even damage the FIFO. So it is needed to develop low crosstalk and low noise MRPC to meet CBM-TOF requirement. Three strip-readout MRPC with or without shielding grounds were designed to study how to reduce noise and crosstalk of MRPCs. In this paper we report on the performance of three different structures of MRPCs named G-0, G-2 and G-3. Tests with cosmic rays were performed at Tsinghua University. The results show that MRPC G-2 can perform better than other two structures, the average cluster size of G-2 is lower than 1.28 strips and the noise level is below 0.5 Hz/cm². The detection efficiency is over 98% and the time resolution is around 65 ps.

In this study, an application of the two-dimensional imaging technology to the X ray tri-axial stress analysis was studied. An image plate (IP) was used to obtain a Debye-Scherre ring and the image data was analized for determining stress. A new principle for stress analysis which is suitable to two-dimensional imaging data was used. For the verification of this two-dimensional imaging type X-ray stress measurement method, an experiment was conducted using a ferritic steel sample which was processed with a surface grinder. Tri-axial stress analysis was conducted to evaluate the sample. The conventional method for X-ray tri-axial stress analysis proposed by Dölle and Hauk was used to evaluate residual stress in order to compare with the present method. As a result, it was confirmed that a sufficiently highly precise and high-speed stress measurement was enabled with the two-dimensional imaging technology compared with the conventional method.

Ziock et al.'s [1] recent Monte Carlo study of a proposed ``full-volume'' Compton Imaging Camera concluded that simultaneously locating a Compton scatter event's multiple interaction points within a single large scintillator crystal might be possible at 1 mm spatial resolution using a coded aperture mask sandwiched between two light guides and coupled to a position sensitive photomultiplier (PSPMT) to record the output light pattern. The method promises high efficiency at a relatively low cost. They are currently developing a lower resolution prototype using a large cubic scintillator (25.4 cm/side) whose masked face will be tiled with 25 Hamamatsu H9500 PSPMTs (6,400 outputs). XIA has contracted to develop and produce the readout electronics, which present several significant design challenges, including capturing all 6,400 anode outputs individually, with single photon sensitivity, in a compact format that will fit behind the tiled PSPMTs. 10,000 event/sec operation is desired, as is a cost of less than about $50/channel.

In our approach, each PSPMT front end integrates the 256 anode signals and 8-1 multiplexes them to 32 differential outputs that are digitized in a PXI card using 4 octal 50 MHz ADCs. The multiplexers run at 8 MHz, sampling each anode at 1 MHz, which becomes the image frame rate. The ADC signals are demultiplexed and digitally filtered to extract the number of photons in each pixel in the full 2-D image. The design has been completed and built and is undergoing evaluation tests at the single PSPMT level.

A novel positron emission tomography (PET) scanner design based on a room-temperature pixelated CdTe solid-state detector is being developed within the framework of the Voxel Imaging PET (VIP) Pathfinder project [1]. The simulation results show a great potential of the VIP to produce high-resolution images even in extremely challenging conditions such as the screening of a human head [2]. With unprecedented high channel density (450 channels/cm³) image reconstruction is a challenge. Therefore optimization is needed to find the best algorithm in order to exploit correctly the promising detector potential. The following reconstruction algorithms are evaluated: 2-D Filtered Backprojection (FBP), Ordered Subset Expectation Maximization (OSEM), List-Mode OSEM (LM-OSEM), and the Origin Ensemble (OE) algorithm. The evaluation is based on the comparison of a true image phantom with a set of reconstructed images obtained by each algorithm. This is achieved by calculation of image quality merit parameters such as the bias, the variance and the mean square error (MSE). A systematic optimization of each algorithm is performed by varying the reconstruction parameters, such as the cutoff frequency of the noise filters and the number of iterations. The region of interest (ROI) analysis of the reconstructed phantom is also performed for each algorithm and the results are compared. Additionally, the performance of the image reconstruction methods is compared by calculating the modulation transfer function (MTF). The reconstruction time is also taken into account to choose the optimal algorithm. The analysis is based on GAMOS [3] simulation including the expected CdTe and electronic specifics.

A prototype readout electronics system was designed for the External Target Experiment in the Cooling Storage Ring (CSR) of the Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou (HIRFL). The kernel parts include the 128-channel 100 ps high-resolution time digitization module, the 16-channel 25 ps high-resolution time and charge measurement module, and the trigger electronics, as well as the clock generation circuits, which are all integrated within the PXI-6U crate. The laboratory test results indicate that a good resolution is achieved, better than the requirement. We also have conducted initial commissioning tests with the detectors to confirm the functions of the system. Through the research of this prototype electronics, preparation for the future extended system is made.

CMS is a general purpose detector that operates at the LHC. The PACT is a Level-1, RPC based muon sub-trigger of the CMS experiment. In this paper an overview of the CMS and its muon trigger is given. The principles of the PACT system are explained. The PACT performance during the LHC Run-1 is presented, including efficiency, stability and rate. The role of the PACT in the Level-1 muon trigger system is exposed. The perspectives for the RPC system in the context of CMS modifications are discussed.

The Silicon Tracking System (STS) is the central detector of the Compressed Baryonic Matter (CBM) experiment at future Facility for Anti-proton and Ion Research (FAIR) at Darmstadt. The task of the STS is to reconstruct trajectories of charged particles originating at relatively high multiplicities from the high rate beam-target interactions. The tracker comprises of 300 μm thick silicon double-sided micro-strip sensors. These sensors should be radiation hard in order to reconstruct charged particles up to a maximum radiation dose of 1 × 10¹⁴n_eqcm⁻². Systematic characterization allows us to investigate the sensor response and perform quality assurance (QA) tests. In this paper, systematic characterization of prototype double-sided silicon micro-strip sensors will be discussed. This procedure includes visual, passive electrical, and radiation hardness test. Presented results include tests on three different prototypes of silicon micro-strip sensors.

The Radio Frequency Quadrupole (RFQ) linear accelerator is an accelerator that efficiently focuses, bunches and accelerates a high intensity DC beam from an ion source, for various applications. Unlike other conventional RF linear accelerators, the electromagnetic mode used for its operation is not the lowest frequency mode supported by the structure. In a four vane type RFQ, there are several undesired electromagnetic modes having frequency close to that of the operating mode. While designing an RFQ accelerator, care must be taken to ensure that the frequencies of these nearby modes are sufficiently separated from the operating mode. If the undesired nearby modes have frequencies close to the operating mode, the electromagnetic field pattern in the presence of geometrical errors will not be stabilized to the desired field profile, and will be perturbed by the nearby modes. This will affect the beam dynamics and reduce the beam transmission. In this paper, we present a detailed study of the electromagnetic modes supported, which is followed by calculations for implementation of suitable techniques to make the desired operating mode stable against mixing with unwanted modes for an RFQ being designed for the proposed Indian Spallation Neutron Source (ISNS) project at Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore. Resonant coupling scheme, along with dipole stabilization rods has been proposed to increase the mode separation. The paper discusses the details of a generalized optimization procedure that has been used for the design of mode stabilization scheme.

Accelerator-based facilities have enabled forefront research in high-energy physics for more than half a century. The accelerator technology of colliders has progressed immensely, while beam energy, luminosity, facility size, and cost have grown by several orders of magnitude. The method of colliding beams has not fully exhausted its potential but has slowed down considerably in its progress. In this paper we derive a simple scaling model for the cost of large accelerators and colliding beam facilities based on costs of 17 big facilities which have been either built or carefully estimated. Although this approach cannot replace an actual cost estimate based on an engineering design, this parameterization is to indicate a somewhat realistic cost range for consideration of what future frontier accelerator facilities might be fiscally realizable.

Dedicated single-photon-emission computed tomography (SPECT) systems based on pixelated semiconductors such as cadmium telluride (CdTe) are in development to study small animal models of human disease. In an effort to develop a high-resolution, low-dose system for small animal imaging, we compared a CdTe-based SPECT system and a conventional NaI(Tl)-based SPECT system in terms of spatial resolution, sensitivity, contrast, and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR). In addition, we investigated the radiation absorbed dose and calculated a figure of merit (FOM) for both SPECT systems. Using the conventional NaI(Tl)-based SPECT system, we achieved a spatial resolution of 1.66 mm at a 30 mm source-to-collimator distance, and a resolution of 2.4-mm hot-rods. Using the newly-developed CdTe-based SPECT system, we achieved a spatial resolution of 1.32 mm FWHM at a 30 mm source-to-collimator distance, and a resolution of 1.7-mm hot-rods. The sensitivities at a 30 mm source-to-collimator distance were 115.73 counts/sec/MBq and 83.38 counts/sec/MBq for the CdTe-based SPECT and conventional NaI(Tl)-based SPECT systems, respectively. To compare quantitative measurements in the mouse brain, we calculated the CNR for images from both systems. The CNR from the CdTe-based SPECT system was 4.41, while that from the conventional NaI(Tl)-based SPECT system was 3.11 when the injected striatal dose was 160 Bq/voxel. The CNR increased as a function of injected dose in both systems. The FOM of the CdTe-based SPECT system was superior to that of the conventional NaI(Tl)-based SPECT system, and the highest FOM was achieved with the CdTe-based SPECT at a dose of 40 Bq/voxel injected into the striatum. Thus, a CdTe-based SPECT system showed significant improvement in performance compared with a conventional system in terms of spatial resolution, sensitivity, and CNR, while reducing the radiation dose to the small animal subject. Herein, we discuss the feasibility of a CdTe-based SPECT system for high-resolution, low-dose small animal imaging.