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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 127 records · Page 7
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Pulse-shape analysis in Cd 0.9 Zn 0.1 Te 0.98 Se 0.02 room-temperature radiation detectors

The effect of trapping of charge carriers on the shape of the charge pulses from room temperature nuclear detectors, based on a recently discovered quaternary semiconductor Cd 0.9 Zn 0.1 Te 0.98 Se 0.02 (CZTS), has been studied. Here, we present a charge-trapping model that explains the pulse shapes for its entire duration from radiation detectors containing multiple defect types. A piecewise continuous model, based on the movement of a large number of charge carriers rather than a single charge, has been proposed to explain the pulse shapes from planar room temperature nuclear detectors. An experimental method based on the model has been described to extract charge-trapping information. This model can be applied to similar semiconductor detectors with electrically active trap centers, in general, to extract information like pre-trapping drift times. Charge pulses from a CZTS planar detector, exposed to 5486 keV alpha particles emitted by a 241Am source, were acquired using a digitizer, and the pulse shapes were explained based on the proposed model. The pre-trapping drift times for electrons as well as holes in CZTS were calculated and studied as a function of operating bias voltage, and a contrast between their bias dependent behaviors was noticed, indicating the behavioral difference of electron and hole traps.

42 ENGINEERING↗
NASA NTRS1977

High-energy cosmic-ray electrons - A new measurement using transition-radiation detectors

A new detector for cosmic-ray electrons, consisting of a combination of a transition-radiation detector and a shower detector, has been constructed, calibrated at accelerator beams, and exposed in a balloon flight under 5 g/sq cm of atmosphere. The design of this instrument and the methods of data analysis are described. Preliminary results in the energy range 9-300 GeV are presented. The energy spectrum of electrons is found to be significantly steeper than that of protons, consistent with a long escape lifetime of cosmic rays in the galaxy.

Hartmann, G.↗
NASA NTRS1983

A new thermal radiation detector using optical heterodyne detection of absorbed energy

The operating principles of a new kind of room-temperature thermal radiation detector are described. In this device modulated light heats a gas, either directly or by conduction from a thin absorbing membrane, and the resultant change in density of the gas is detected by optical heterodyning. The performance of a membrane device of this kind agrees well with the predictions of theory.

Davis, C. C.↗
DOE OSTI2011

Potential distribution in voltage terminating structures with floating p-n junction rings of silicon radiation detectors

A model of the potential distribution in voltage terminating structures (VTSs) with floating p{sup +}-n junction rings in silicon radiation detectors is proposed. The model is based on experimental current-voltage characteristic of interring gaps, measured for detectors based on high-resistivity silicon with resistivities from 1 to 25 k{Omega} cm. The physical basis of the model is the injection principle of current flow through VTS interring gaps, which becomes possible at a certain electric field distribution in space charge regions of p{sup +}-n junctions of the sensitive contact and rings. It is shown that the injection current flow is a universal operation principle of the VTS with floating rings, which leads to rigid stabilization of potentials of individual rings. As a result, it becomes possible to divide the potential irrespective of the semiconductor material resistivity.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Optimization of selenium in CdZnTeSe quaternary compound for radiation detector applications

X- and gamma-ray detectors are increasingly becoming essential tool for science and technology in various fields include homeland security, nonproliferation, nuclear security, medical imaging, astrophysics, and high energy physics. Cd 1-x Zn x Te 1-y Se y (CZTS) is emerging as a next-generation compound semiconductor for such applications. CZTS was found to possesses a very low concentration of Te inclusions and free from sub-grain boundary networks. Being a quaternary compound with varying alloy composition, optimization of the composition was performed to determine the minimum amount of selenium required to produce CZTS with reduced defects. The optimized composition was found to be x=0.10 and y=0.02, i.e., Cd 0.9 Zn0.1Te 0.98 Se 0.02 , for excellent material properties as a radiation detector. The resulting material was free from sub-grain boundary networks and with a highly reduced concentration of Te inclusions. The bulk dark resistivity obtained was in the range of 1-3x1010 ohm-cm with the highest achieved mobility-lifetime product of ~6.6x10-3 cm2/V for the optimized CZTS composition. Impurity analyses were performed by the Glow Discharge Mass Spectroscopy (GDMS) technique, and the results showed relatively high impurity concentrations compared to commercial detector-grade CdZnTe. Thus, CZTS has room for further improvement with additional purification of the starting materials.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

Technical Note: Response measurement for select radiation detectors in magnetic fields

Purpose: Dose response to applied magnetic fields for ion chambers and solid state detectors has been investigated previously for the anticipated use in linear accelerator–magnetic resonance devices. In this investigation, the authors present the measured response of selected radiation detectors when the magnetic field is applied in the same direction as the radiation beam, i.e., a longitudinal magnetic field, to verify previous simulation only data. Methods: The dose response of a PR06C ion chamber, PTW60003 diamond detector, and IBA PFD diode detector is measured in a longitudinal magnetic field. The detectors are irradiated with buildup caps and their long axes either parallel or perpendicular to the incident photon beam. In each case, the magnetic field dose response is reported as the ratio of detector signals with to that without an applied longitudinal magnetic field. The magnetic field dose response for each unique orientation as a function of magnetic field strength was then compared to the previous simulation only studies. Results: The measured dose response of each detector in longitudinal magnetic fields shows no discernable response up to near 0.21 T. This result was expected and matches the previously published simulation only results, showing no appreciable dose response with magnetic field. Conclusions: Low field longitudinal magnetic fields have been shown to have little or no effect on the dose response of the detectors investigated and further lend credibility to previous simulation only studies.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2016

Alpha particle response study of polycrstalline diamond radiation detector

Chemical vapor deposition has opened the possibility to grow high purity synthetic diamond at relatively low cost. This has opened up uses of diamond based detectors for wide range of applications. These detectors are most suitable for harsh environments where standard semiconductor detectors cannot work. In this paper, we present the fabrication details and performance study of polycrystalline diamond based radiation detector. Effect of different operating parameters such as bias voltage and shaping time for charge collection on the performance of detector has been studied.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2022

Synthesis of CdZnTeSe single crystals for room temperature radiation detector fabrication: mitigation of hole trapping effects using a convolutional neural network

In this article, we report the growth of Cd 0.9 Zn 0.1 Te 0.97 Se 0.03 (CZTS) wide bandgap semiconductor single crystals for room temperature gamma-ray detection using a modified vertical Bridgman method. Charge transport properties measured in the radiation detectors, fabricated from the grown CZTS crystals, indicated signs of hole trapping. Hole traps inhibit high-resolution radiation detection especially for energetic gamma rays. Machine learning (ML) applications are gaining tremendous mpetus in improving device and sensor performance by compensating for limi tations arising from such intrinsic material properties. In this article, we describe a deep convolutional neural network (CNN) that has demonstrated remarkable efficiency in identifying the energy of a gamma photon detected by a CZTS detector. The CNN has been trained using simulated data that resemble output pulses from actual CZTS detectors when exposed to 662-keV gamma photons. The device properties required for the simulation have been derived from radiation detection measurements on a real Cd 0.9 Zn 0.1 Te 0.97 Se 0.03 detector fabricated in our laboratory. The CNN has been trained with detector pulses arising through photoelectric (PE) and Compton scattering (CS) separately. The percentage error in predicting the detected energies, within an extremely small duration of 0.28 ms, was found to be lower than 0.1% for gamma energies above 50 keV and for training datasets con taining PE and CS events separately. The CNN was also validated for a mixed PE and CS dataset to obtain a prediction error of 1%. Additionally, the effect of detector resolution on the efficiency of the CNN was also explored.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2013

Super-thin single crystal diamond membrane radiation detectors

We propose to use the non-electronic grade (nitrogen content 5 ppb < [N] < 5 ppm) single crystal (sc) chemical vapour deposited (CVD) diamond as a thin-membrane radiation detector. Using deep Ar/O{sub 2} plasma etching it is possible to produce self-supported few micrometres thick scCVD membranes of a size approaching 7 mm × 7 mm, with a very good surface quality. After metallization and contacting, electrical properties of diamond membrane detectors were probed with 5.486 MeV α-particles as an ionization source. Despite nitrogen impurity, scCVD membrane detectors exhibit stable operation, charge collection efficiency close to 100%, with homogenous response, and extraordinary dielectric strength up to 30 V/μm.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2026

Efficient Optimization of Plasma Radiation Detector Configurations using Imperfect Inference Models

The configurations of instruments fielded on an experiment affect the amount of information captured and the quality of subsequent inference. Here, we investigate the problem of optimizing plasma x-ray radiation detectors in a magneto-inertial fusion experiment at Sandia National Laboratories. It is impossible to directly measure properties such as the temperature of the thermonuclear fusion plasma produced in these experiments because of the extreme environment and destructive nature of the experiment. Among other diagnostics, several detectors are placed with significant standoff from the fusion target to capture the x-rays emitted by the fusion plasma, which can be used to infer some of its properties. To optimize the configuration of these detectors, a high-fidelity model (HFM) is used for simulating outputs and a low-fidelity model (LFM) is used for inference. We develop methods based on A- and L-optimality criteria that are efficient to compute while explicitly accounting for the discrepancy between the HFM and the LFM. The method allows us to find detector configurations that perform similarly to or better than the configuration obtained using an existing sampling-based optimization method while decreasing computational time by a factor of 50. Supplementary materials for this article are available online, including a standardized description of the materials available for reproducing the work.

Bayesian optimization↗
DOE OSTI2012

Preliminary Results from an Investigation into Nanostructured Nuclear Radiation Detectors for Non-Proliferation Applications

In recent years, the concept of embedding composite scintillators consisting of nanosized inorganic crystals in an organic matrix has been actively pursued. Nanocomposite detectors have the potential to meet many of the homeland security, non-proliferation, and border and cargo-screening needs of the nation and, by virtue of their superior nuclear identification capability over plastic, at roughly the same cost as plastic, have the potential to replace all plastic detectors. Nanocomposites clearly have the potential of being a gamma ray detection material that would be sensitive yet less expensive and easier to produce on a large scale than growing large, whole crystals of similar sensitivity. These detectors would have a broad energy range and a sufficient energy resolution to perform isotopic identification. The material can also be fabricated on an industrial scale, further reducing cost. This investigation focused on designing and fabricating prototype core/shell and quantum dot (QD) detectors. Fourteen core/shell and four QD detectors, all with the basic consistency of a mixture of nanoparticles in a polymer matrix with different densities of nanoparticles, were prepared. Nanoparticles with sizes <10 nm were fabricated, embedded in a polystyrene matrix, and the resultant scintillators’ radiation detector properties were characterized. This work also attempted to extend the gamma energy response on both low- and high-energy regimes by demonstrating the ability to detect low-energy and high-energy gamma rays. Preliminary results of this investigation are consistent with a significant response of these materials to nuclear radiation.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2015

Multiple-mode radiation detector

An apparatus for detecting radiation is provided. In embodiments, at least one sensor medium is provided, of a kind that interacts with radiation to generate photons and/or charge carriers. The apparatus also includes at least one electrode arrangement configured to collect radiation-generated charge from a sensor medium that has been provided. The apparatus also includes at least one photodetector configured to produce an electrical output in response to photons generated by radiation in such a sensor medium, and an electronic circuit configured to produce an output that is jointly responsive to the collected charge and to the photodetector output. At least one such electrode arrangement, at least one such photodetector, and at least one such sensor medium are combined to form an integral unit.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2018

Compact radiation detector

An apparatus for detecting radiation is provided. In embodiments, at least one sensor is disposed on a surface of a wafer-like substrate. At least one sensor medium is fixed relative to the substrate, optically or electrically coupled to the sensor, and separated from the sensor by no more than the substrate thickness. An electronic signal-processing circuit is connected to the sensor and configured to produce an output when the sensor is stimulated by a product of an interaction between the sensor medium and impinging radiation. The sensor is configured to collect, from the sensor medium, charge and/or light produced within the sensor medium by interactions with impinging radiation.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2013

Detection of highly ionizing particles: Nonlinear near-surface phenomena in silicon radiation detectors

As far as the detection system is concerned, experimens on synthesis and study of the properties of superheavy nuclei is one of the most difficult tasks. In fact, these experiments can be considered extreme in many senses: —extremely low (fractions of a picobarn-picobarns) formation cross sections of the products under investigation —extremely high heavy ion beam intensities for example, ∼1.1–1.5 pμA{sup 1} {sup 48}Ca —high radioactivity of actinide targets, which are used in the experiments aimed at the synthesis of super-heavy nuclei —very long duration of the experiment (as long as a year) —extremely low yield of the products under investigation (sometimes less than 1 per month) —very high sensitivity of the detection system —radical suppression of the background products (method of “active correlations”). The two last points are the subject of the present paper, as well as the subject of two of my reviews published before. It is evident that without knowledge of the nature of the internal processes in semiconductor detectors it is virtually impossible to provide clear detection of ultra rare signals. In the present paper, the author reports on the investigation of near-surface phenomena in silicon radiation detectors, first of all bearing in mind the theoretical-methodological aspect of these phenomena. Non-equilibrium electron-hole recombination, pulse height defect formation, charge multiplication, and formation of “hot” electron system, are considered. With just these phenomena one can observe nonlinearity of energy-charge-amplitude conversion for heavy ion (recoil nucleus) registered by a silicon detector. Practical applications are also considered. One of them is a deeply modified method of “active correlations”. Projection of applying the method in the experiments with the modernized cyclotron (DC-280 FLNR project) is projected as well as possible applications in the heavy-ion-induced complete fusion nuclear reactions.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2015

A low cost network of spectrometer radiation detectors based on the ArduSiPM a compact transportable Software/Hardware Data Acquisition system with Arduino DUE

The necessity to use Photo Multipliers (PM) as light detector limited in the past the use of crystals in radiation handled device preferring the Geiger approach. The Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs) are very small and cheap, solid photon detectors with good dynamic range and single photon detection capability, they are usable to supersede cumbersome and difficult to use Photo Multipliers (PM). A SiPM can be coupled with a scintillator crystal to build efficient, small and solid radiation detector. A cost effective and easily replicable Hardware software module for SiPM detector readout is made using the ArduSiPM solution. The ArduSiPM is an easily battery operable handled device using an Arduino DUE (an open Software/Hardware board) as processor board and a piggy-back custom designed board (ArduSiPM Shield), the Shield contains all the blocks features to monitor, set and acquire the SiPM using internet network. (authors)

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗