Response Calculations of the CdZnTe Detector Using EGS4
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For the past year Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been developing a passive fast-neutron emission tomography capability. Like the passive gamma emission tomography capability presently being evaluated by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the goal of this capability is to detect the removal or substitution of individual fuel pins in spent nuclear fuel assemblies for international safeguards applications, such as verifying the integrity of an assembly before transfer to difficult-to-access storage. The present imaging technique is based on neutron emissions originating primarily from curium-244, which is produced predominantly at the end of the exposure cycle. As a result, this technique may be sensitive not only to fuel pins that are removed or substituted subsequent to all irradiation, but also to fuel pins that are substituted and subsequently irradiated. At present, a laboratory prototype imager is under construction. The purpose of the prototype is to demonstrate an imaging capability sufficient to resolve individual fuel pins using commercially available boron straw detectors that can withstand the high gamma ray dose from a typical spent fuel assembly. To achieve both practical measurement durations and sufficient resolution to discern individual pins, the prototype imager employs a novel collimator design where the slits of a parallel-slit collimator are rearranged to distribute them around a ring surrounding the target fuel assembly. This presentation will report on simulations to understand the neutron signal-to-noise ratio and gamma dose rate as a function of the collimator design, the neutron detector’s response to gamma rays as a function of dose rate, and image reconstruction challenges associated with this collimator design.
In general, a physical system and/or the result of an indirect experimental measurement are modeled mathematically in terms of: (a) A system of linear and/or nonlinear equations that relate the system's independent variables and parameters to the system's state (i.e., dependent) variables; (b) Probability distributions, moments thereof, inequality and/or equality constraints that define the range of variations of the system's parameters; (c) One or several quantities, customarily referred to as system responses (or objective functions, or indices of performance), which are computed using the mathematical model. The 'direct problem' solves the 'parameter-to-output' mapping that describes the 'cause-to-effect' relationship in the respective physical process. In practice, the model parameters and/or responses are experimentally measured quantities and are therefore subject to uncertainties. Many measurement problems are 'inverse' to the direct problem in that they seek to determine the properties of the medium (i.e., various cross sections), or the properties of the source, and/or the size of the medium on its boundaries from measurements of quantities that depend on the neutron flux (or from direct measurements of the neutron flux). In general, two problems are called inverses of one another if the formulation of each involves all or part of the solution of the other. Some authors further group such inverse problems into 'invasive', when the interior flux is accessible for measurements as opposed to 'non-invasive', in which only fluxes on the boundary of (or exterior to) the medium can be measured. Examples of inverse radiative transfer problems have been reviewed by McCormick, while examples of inverse source problems for neutron transport have been provided by Sanchez and McCormick. More recently, Bledsoe et al., have presented two methods (the Levenberg-Marquard, and 'differential evolution method') for addressing numerically inverse transport problems. However, although these works (as well as other works cited therein) mentioned the detrimental effects of 'small perturbations in the input data', none of the works published thus far on inverse problems for particle transport or diffusion actually showed explicitly the effects that uncertainties in the measured responses (e.g., detector measurements) would actually have on the 'inverse' deduction (from such measurements) of the underlying medium's properties, sources, etc. This work highlights explicitly the nature of the difficulties encountered in so-called 'inverse problems' by presenting a paradigm inverse neutron diffusion problem admitting an exact solution, in which the 'inverse problem' is to determine the medium's diffusion coefficient from flux measurements. It will be shown explicitly (analytically) that this is not possible to achieve in a unique manner, even in the absence of measurement uncertainties, unless additional error-free information is provided about the quantity to be determined (in this case, the medium's diffusion coefficient). It if further shown that, even if this additional error-free information about the diffusion coefficient to be determined is available, the unavoidable experimental measurements errors, albeit it vanishingly small, in the measured flux render the 'exact solution' useless for computational purposes, since the exact solution turns out to be a divergent series. As discussed in this paper's ENDNOTES section, the paradigm problem presented in this work also underscores the need for 'regularization', which is a qualifier indicating that the inverse problem is to be solved in some approximate manner. (authors)
With asymmetric split ring metamaterial periodically placed on top of the niobium nitride (NbN) nanowire meander, we theoretically propose a kind of metal-insulator-metallic metamaterial nanocavity to enhance absorbing efficiency and shorten response time of the superconducting NbN nanowire single photon detector (SNSPD) operating at wavelength of 1550 nm. Up to 99.6% of the energy is absorbed and 96.5% dissipated in the nanowire. Meanwhile, taking advantage of this high efficiency absorbing cavity, we implement a more sparse arrangement of the NbN nanowire of the filling factor 0.2, which significantly lessens the nanowire and crucially boosts the response time to be only 40% of reset time in previous evenly spaced meander design. Together with trapped mode resonance, a standing wave oscillation mechanism is presented to explain the high efficiency and broad bandwidth properties. To further demonstrate the advantages of the nanocavity, a four-pixel SNSPD on 10 μm × 10 μm area is designed to further reduce 75% reset time while maintaining 70% absorbing efficiency. Utilizing the asymmetric split ring metamaterial, we show a higher efficiency and more rapid response SNSPD configuration to contribute to the development of single photon detectors.
Often only a single physical process or component is investigated in the simulation of radiation detector systems. The results are then considered to be representative of what is expected in the correlating physical experiment. Although singular assessments may serve as a good estimate, the overall performance of a radiation detector system depends on several physical processes and the performance of all components within the system. Our Geant4-based multiphysics simulation toolkit couples radiation transport with optical photon processes, providing simulations of radiation detector systems components from the scintillator through the photocathode of the photodetector. Work to incorporate the back-end detector components, including the complete photodetector and subsequent electronics (e.g., amplifiers, digitizers), is underway. Geant4 is used to model the radiation transport and optical photon processes that occur in the front-end detector system components when exposed to a chosen source. These components include the scintillator, detector housing, optical coupling to the photodetector, and photocathode of the photodetector. Characteristics of several detector systems that have been studied include time response; pulse height spectra; number of photoelectrons per MeV; detector efficiency versus incident quanta energy; and effects on detector response due to change in geometries, materials, and reflectivity. Comparison of these characteristics by means of this toolkit enables the selection of the optimal individual components; thus, it is possible to specify the radiation detector system best suited to meet the requirements of any physical experiment.
This paper presents data from experiments with protons at non-normal incidence to CR-39 nuclear track detectors, analyzing the properties of detection efficiency, proton track diameter, track contrast, and track eccentricity. Understanding the CR-39 response to protons incident at an angle is important for designing charged particle detectors for inertial confinement fusion (ICF) applications. This study considers protons with incident energies less than 3 MeV. In this regime, an incident angle of 10° has no effect on CR-39 detection efficiency, and >85% detection efficiency is preserved up through 25° in the range of 1.0 MeV–2.1 MeV. For ICF applications, incident angles above 30° are deemed impractical for detector design due to significant drops in proton detection at all energies. We observe significant reductions in detection efficiency compared to theoretical predictions, particularly at low energies where proton tracks are etched away. The proton track diameter measured by the scan system is observed to decrease with higher incident angles. The track diameters are analyzed with two fitting models, and it is shown that the diameter–energy relation can be fit with the existing models at angles up to 30° . The optical contrast of the tracks tends to increase with the angle, meaning that the tracks are fainter, and a larger increase is observed for higher energies. Eccentricity, a measure of how elongated proton tracks are, increases with the incident angle and drops after the critical angle. The lowest energy tracks remain nearly circular even at higher angles.
This paper presents data from experiments with protons at non-normal incidence to CR-39 nuclear track detectors, analyzing the properties of detection efficiency, proton track diameter, track contrast, and track eccentricity. Understanding the CR-39 response to protons incident at an angle is important for designing charged particle detectors for inertial confinement fusion (ICF) applications. This study considers protons with incident energies less than 3 MeV. In this regime, an incident angle of 10° has no effect on CR-39 detection efficiency, and >85% detection efficiency is preserved up through 25° in the range of 1.0 MeV–2.1 MeV. For ICF applications, incident angles above 30° are deemed impractical for detector design due to significant drops in proton detection at all energies. We observe significant reductions in detection efficiency compared to theoretical predictions, particularly at low energies where proton tracks are etched away. The proton track diameter measured by the scan system is observed to decrease with higher incident angles. The track diameters are analyzed with two fitting models, and it is shown that the diameter–energy relation can be fit with the existing models at angles up to 30°. The optical contrast of the tracks tends to increase with the angle, meaning that the tracks are fainter, and a larger increase is observed for higher energies. Eccentricity, a measure of how elongated proton tracks are, increases with the incident angle and drops after the critical angle. The lowest energy tracks remain nearly circular even at higher angles.
Characterization of the electrical response of the HPGe segmented detectors is one of the current goals for the Nuclear Physics community in order to perform {gamma}-ray tracking or even imaging with these detectors. For this purpose, scanning devices have to be developed to achieve the signal-position association with the highest precision. In this laboratory, a new scanning system, SALSA (Salamanca Lyso-based Scanning Array), consisting on a high spatial resolution {gamma} camera, is a under development. In this work the whole scanning system is presented and first results for the characterization of the {gamma} camera are shown. (authors)
The frequency response and quantum efficiency of optical photodetectors for heterodyne receivers is investigated. The measurements utilized two spectral lines from the output of two lasers as input to the photodetectors. These lines are easily measurable in power and frequency and hence serve as known inputs. By measuring the output current of the photodetector the quantum efficiency is determined as a function of frequency separation between the two input signals. An investigation of the theoretical basis and accuracy of this type of measurement relative to similar measurements utilizing risetime is undertaken. A theoretical study of the heterodyne process in photodetectors based on semiconductor physics is included so that higher bandwidth detectors may be designed. All measurements are made on commercially available detectors and manufacturers' specifications for normal photodetector operation are compared to the measured heterodyne characteristics.
Purpose: We study the effect of the secondary photon events on modeling the energy response functions of the In-depth photon counting X-ray detectors (PCXD) and the potential impact of the spectral distortion on material decompositions. Methods: Square-shape wafers of three potential PCXD materials were constructed (5-by-20-by-30 mm{sup 3} for Si, 4-by-20-by-5 mm{sup 3} for GaAs and 4-by-20-by-3 mm{sup 3} for CdTe), with pixel size of 5-by-4 mm{sup 2} for Si and 5-by-5 mm{sup 2} for GaAs and CdTe. The depth direction (z-direction) was segmented into 5 layers with exponentially increasing thicknesses of each layer. X-rays from 10keV to 120keV with 20000 photons per keV bin was simulated to characterize the energy response function of each PCXD using Geant4. Secondary photons events were recorded and we omitted the photons exiting the detector. The Energy Response Functions (ERFs) from the Monte Carlo (MC) simulations were compared with those from a semi-ideal model developed earlier. Results: For Si, detection of secondary events in the center detector were minimal due to the long aspect ratio of the detector, which results in the agreement between the theoretical prediction and the MC simulation with and without the secondary photons. For CdTe, the secondary photons captured by the center pixel were important, leading to obvious disagreement between the analytical and the simulated ERF. After correction for secondary events, the two curves were more similar except for the escape peaks which are not correctly portrayed by the semi-ideal model. For GaAs, the behavior is in between Si and CdTe. Conclusion: Given the complexity of the In-Depth PCXD's geometry, the uniform semi-ideal model does not fully characterize the ERF at each layer. Therefore, more realistic models need to be explored for better modeling of the spectral distortion.
An overview of the Faint Object Camera and its performance to date is presented. In particular, the detector's efficiency, the spatial uniformity of response, distortion characteristics, detector and sky background, detector linearity, spectrography, and operation are discussed. The effect of the severe spherical aberration of the telescope's primary mirror on the camera's point spread function is reviewed, as well as the impact it has on the camera's general performance. The scientific implications of the performance and the spherical aberration are outlined, with emphasis on possible remedies for spherical aberration, hardware remedies, and stellar population studies.
A system for reflecting and recording x-ray radiation from an x-ray emitting event to characterize the event. A crystal is aligned to receive radiation along a first path from an x-ray emitting event. Upon striking the crystal, the x-ray reflects from the crystal along a second path due to a reflection plane of the crystal defined by one of the following Miller indices: (9,7,3) or (11,3,3). Exemplary crystalline material is germanium. The x-rays are reflected to a detector aligned to receive reflected x-rays that are reflected from the crystal along the second path and the detector generates a detector signal in response to x-rays impacting the detector. The detector may include a CCD electronic detector, film plates, or any other detector type. A processor receives and processes the detector signal to generate reflection data representing the x-rays emitted from the x-ray emitting event.
The Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument onboard the Suomi National Polar‐orbiting Partnership (SNPP) satellite was launched on 28 October 2011. The VIIRS has 5 imagery spectral bands (I-bands), 16 moderate resolution spectral bands (M-bands) and a panchromatic day/night band (DNB). Performance of the VIIRS spatial response and band-to-band co-registration (BBR) was measured through intensive pre-launch tests. These measurements were made in the non-aggregated zones near the start (or end) of scan for the I-bands and M-bands and for a limited number of aggregation modes for the DNB in order to test requirement compliance. This paper presents results based on a recently re-processed pre-launch test data. Sensor (detector) spatial impulse responses in the scan direction are parameterized in terms of ground dynamic field of view (GDFOV), horizontal spatial resolution (HSR), modulation transfer function (MTF), ensquared energy (EE) and integrated out-of-pixel (IOOP) spatial response. Results are presented for the non-aggregation, 2-sample and 3-sample aggregation zones for the I-bands and M-bands, and for a limited number of aggregation modes for the DNB. On-orbit GDFOVs measured for the 5 I-bands in the scan direction using a straight bridge are also presented. Band-to-band co-registration (BBR) is quantified using the prelaunch measured band-to-band offsets. These offsets may be expressed as fractions of horizontal sampling intervals (HSIs), detector spatial response parameters GDFOV or HSR. BBR bases on HSIs in the non-aggregation, 2-sample and 3-sample aggregation zones are presented. BBR matrices based on scan direction GDFOV and HSR are compared to the BBR matrix based on HSI in the non-aggregation zone. We demonstrate that BBR based on GDFOV is a better representation of footprint overlap and so this definition should be used in BBR requirement specifications. We propose that HSR not be used as the primary image quality indicator, since we show that it is neither an adequate representation of the size of sensor spatial response nor an adequate measure of imaging quality.
We consider the carrier transport and plasmonic phenomena in the lateral carbon nanotube (CNT) networks forming the device channel with asymmetric electrodes. One electrode is the Ohmic contact to the CNT network and the other contact is the Schottky contact. These structures can serve as detectors of the terahertz (THz) radiation. We develop the device model for collective response of the lateral CNT networks which comprise a mixture of randomly oriented semiconductor CNTs (s-CNTs) and quasi-metal CNTs (m-CNTs). The proposed model includes the concept of the collective two-dimensional (2D) plasmons in relatively dense networks of randomly oriented CNTs (CNT “felt”) and predicts the detector responsivity spectral characteristics exhibiting sharp resonant peaks at the signal frequencies corresponding to the 2D plasmonic resonances. The detection mechanism is the rectification of the ac current due the nonlinearity of the Schottky contact current-voltage characteristics under the conditions of a strong enhancement of the potential drop at this contact associated with the plasmon excitation. The detector responsivity depends on the fractions of the s- and m-CNTs. The burning of the near-contact regions of the m-CNTs or destruction of these CNTs leads to a marked increase in the responsivity in agreement with our experimental data. The resonant THz detectors with sufficiently dense lateral CNT networks can compete and surpass other THz detectors using plasmonic effects at room temperatures.
Neutron time-of-flight diagnostics at the NIF were of late outfitted with Cherenkov detectors. A fused silica radiator delivers sub-nanosecond response time and is optically coupled to a microchannel plate photomultiplier tube with gain from ~1 to 10 4 . Capitalizing on fast time response and gamma-ray sensitivity, these systems can provide better than 30 ps precision for measuring first moments of neutron distributions. Generation of ab initio instrument response functions (IRFs) is critical to meet the <1% uncertainty needed. A combination of Monte Carlo modeling, benchtop characterization, and in situ comparison is employed. Close agreement is shown between the modeled IRFs and in situ measurements using the NIF’s short-pulse advanced radiographic capability beams. First and second moments of neutron spectra calculated using ab initio IRFs agree well with established scintillator measurements. Next-step designs offer increased sensitivity and time-response.
We demonstrate a photodetector sensitive to both optical and x-ray picosecond pulses based on our in-house grown cadmium magnesium telluride (Cd,Mg)Te single crystal. Specifically, we developed In-doped Cd0.96Mg0.04Te material and discuss its femtosecond optical photoresponse, as well as the detector performance, such as <100-pA dark current and up to 0.22-mA/W responsivity for 780-nm wavelength optical radiation. The detector exposed to Ti fluorescence (K alpha) x-ray pulses at 4.5 keV, generated by a free-electron laser beam with the central energy of 9.8 keV and <100 fs pulse width, exhibited readout-electronics-limited 200-ps full-width-at-half-maximum photoresponse, demonstrating that it is suitable for coarse timing in free-electron laser x-ray/optical femtosecond pump–probe spectroscopy applications.