An application of CCD read-out technique to neutron distribution measurement using the self-activation method with a CsI scintillator plate

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nohtomi, Akihiro; Kurihara, Ryosuke; Kinoshita, Hiroyuki; Honda, Soichiro; Tokunaga, Masaaki; Uno, Heita; Shinsho, Kiyomitsu; Wakabayashi, Genichiro; Koba, Yusuke; Fukunaga, Junichi; Umezu, Yoshiyuki; Nakamura, Yasuhiko; Ohga, Saiji

2016-01-01

In our previous paper, the self-activation of an NaI scintillator had been successfully utilized for detecting photo-neutrons around a high-energy X-ray radiotherapy machine; individual optical pulses from the self-activated scintillator are read-out by photo sensors such as a photomultiplier tube (PMT). In the present work, preliminary observations have been performed in order to apply a direct CCD read-out technique to the self-activation method with a CsI scintillator plate using a Pu-Be source and a 10-MV linac. In conclusion, it has been revealed that the CCD read-out technique is applicable to neutron measurement around a high-energy X-ray radiotherapy machine with the self-activation of a CsI plate. Such application may provide a possibility of novel method for simple neutron dose-distribution measurement. - Highlights: • Preliminary observations have been performed by a CCD for the CsI self-activation method. • It has been revealed that the CCD read-out technique is applicable to neutron measurement. • Such application may provide a novel method for simple neutron distribution measurement.

An application of CCD read-out technique to neutron distribution measurement using the self-activation method with a CsI scintillator plate

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nohtomi, Akihiro, E-mail: nohtomi@hs.med.kyushu-u.ac.jp [Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582 (Japan); Kurihara, Ryosuke; Kinoshita, Hiroyuki; Honda, Soichiro; Tokunaga, Masaaki; Uno, Heita [Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582 (Japan); Shinsho, Kiyomitsu [Graduate School of Human Sciences, Tokyo Metropolitan University, 7-2-10 Higashi-oku, Arakawa-ku, Tokyo 116-8551 (Japan); Wakabayashi, Genichiro [Atomic Energy Research Institute, Kinki University, 3-4-1 Kowakae, Higashiosaka-shi, Osaka 577-8502 (Japan); Koba, Yusuke [National Institute of Radiological Sciences, 4-9-1 Anagawa, Inage-ku, Chiba-shi, Chiba 263-8555 (Japan); Fukunaga, Junichi; Umezu, Yoshiyuki; Nakamura, Yasuhiko [Department of Radiology, Kyushu University Hospital, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582 (Japan); Ohga, Saiji [Department of Clinical Radiology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582 (Japan)

2016-10-01

In our previous paper, the self-activation of an NaI scintillator had been successfully utilized for detecting photo-neutrons around a high-energy X-ray radiotherapy machine; individual optical pulses from the self-activated scintillator are read-out by photo sensors such as a photomultiplier tube (PMT). In the present work, preliminary observations have been performed in order to apply a direct CCD read-out technique to the self-activation method with a CsI scintillator plate using a Pu-Be source and a 10-MV linac. In conclusion, it has been revealed that the CCD read-out technique is applicable to neutron measurement around a high-energy X-ray radiotherapy machine with the self-activation of a CsI plate. Such application may provide a possibility of novel method for simple neutron dose-distribution measurement. - Highlights: • Preliminary observations have been performed by a CCD for the CsI self-activation method. • It has been revealed that the CCD read-out technique is applicable to neutron measurement. • Such application may provide a novel method for simple neutron distribution measurement.

Scintillation {gamma} spectrography. Physical principles. Apparatus. Operation; Spectrographie {gamma} a scintillations. Principes physiques. Appareillage. Utilisation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Julliot, C. [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique, Saclay (France).Centre d' Etudes Nucleaires

1960-07-01

The scintillation detector forms the main part of the instrument used, the electronic unit presenting the results produced. After a brief description of the process of {gamma} photon absorption in the material, the particular case of NaI (T1), the scintillator used, is examined. The intensity of the scintillation caused by {gamma} ray absorption and the characteristics of the photomultiplier play a determining part in the energy resolution of the instrument. For the {gamma} recording spectrograph, we show to what extent the technique for using the electronic unit can modify the results. A detailed description is given of the activity measurement of a {gamma}-emitting radioelement by the spectrographic method. (author) [French] Dans l'appareillage utilise, le detecteur a scintillations constitue la piece maitresse, l'ensemble electronique presente les resultats issus du detecteur. Apres avoir brievement decrit le processus d'absorption des photons {gamma} dans la matiere, nous examinons le cas particulier du NaI(T1), le scintillateur utilise. L'intensite de la scintillation provoque par l'absorption des rayons {gamma} et les caracteristiques du photomultiplicateur jouent un role determinant dans la resolution en energie de l'appareil. Pour le spectrographe {gamma} enregistreur, nous indiquons dans quelle mesure la technique d'utilisation de l'ensemble electronique peut modifier les resultats. La-mesure de l'activite d'un radioelement emetteur {gamma} par spectrographie fait l'objet d'une description detaillee. (auteur)

Scintillation {gamma} spectrography. Physical principles. Apparatus. Operation; Spectrographie {gamma} a scintillations. Principes physiques. Appareillage. Utilisation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Julliot, C [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique, Saclay (France).Centre d' Etudes Nucleaires

1960-07-01

The scintillation detector forms the main part of the instrument used, the electronic unit presenting the results produced. After a brief description of the process of {gamma} photon absorption in the material, the particular case of NaI (T1), the scintillator used, is examined. The intensity of the scintillation caused by {gamma} ray absorption and the characteristics of the photomultiplier play a determining part in the energy resolution of the instrument. For the {gamma} recording spectrograph, we show to what extent the technique for using the electronic unit can modify the results. A detailed description is given of the activity measurement of a {gamma}-emitting radioelement by the spectrographic method. (author) [French] Dans l'appareillage utilise, le detecteur a scintillations constitue la piece maitresse, l'ensemble electronique presente les resultats issus du detecteur. Apres avoir brievement decrit le processus d'absorption des photons {gamma} dans la matiere, nous examinons le cas particulier du NaI(T1), le scintillateur utilise. L'intensite de la scintillation provoque par l'absorption des rayons {gamma} et les caracteristiques du photomultiplicateur jouent un role determinant dans la resolution en energie de l'appareil. Pour le spectrographe {gamma} enregistreur, nous indiquons dans quelle mesure la technique d'utilisation de l'ensemble electronique peut modifier les resultats. La-mesure de l'activite d'un radioelement emetteur {gamma} par spectrographie fait l'objet d'une description detaillee. (auteur)

The equatorial F-layer: progress and puzzles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H. Rishbeth

Full Text Available This work reviews some aspects of the ionospheric F-layer in the vicinity of the geomagnetic equator. Starting with a historical introduction, brief summaries are given of the physics that makes the equatorial ionosphere so interesting, concentrating on the large-scale structure rather than the smaller-scale instability phenomena. Several individual topics are then discussed, including eclipse effects, the asymmetries of the `equatorial trough', variations with longitude, the semiannual variation, the effects of the global thermospheric circulation, and finally the equatorial neutral thermosphere, including `superrotation' and possible topographic influences.

Keyword: Ionosphere (equatorial ionosphere

Plastic scintillator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andreeshchev, E.A.; Kilin, S.F.; Kavyrzina, K.A.

1978-01-01

A plastic scintillator for ionizing radiation detectors with high time resolution is suggested. To decrease the scintillation pulse width and to maintain a high light yield, the 4 1 , 4 5 -dibromo-2 1 , 2 5 , 5 1 , 5 5 -tetramethyl-n-quinquiphenyl (Br 2 Me 4 Ph) in combination with n-terphenyl (Ph 3 ) or 2, 5-diphenyloxadiazol-1, 3, 4 (PPD) is used as a luminescent addition. Taking into consideration the results of a special study, it is shown, that the following ratio of ingradients is the optimum one: 3-4 mass% Ph 3 or 4-7 mas% PPD + 2-5 mass% Br 2 Me 4 Ph + + polymeric base. The suggested scintillator on the basis of polystyrene has the light yield of 0.23-0.26 arbitrary units and the scintillation pulse duration at half-height is 0.74-0.84 ns

A lens-coupled scintillation counter in cryogenic environment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stoykov, A; Scheuermann, R; Amato, A; Bartkowiak, M; Konter, J A; Rodriguez, J; Sedlak, K

2011-01-01

In this work we present an elegant solution for a scintillation counter to be integrated into a cryogenic system. Its distinguishing feature is the absence of a continuous light guide coupling the scintillation and the photodetector parts, operating at cryogenic and room temperatures respectively. The prototype detector consists of a plastic scintillator with glued-in wavelength-shifting fiber located inside a cryostat, a Geiger-mode Avalanche Photodiode (G-APD) outside the cryostat, and a lens system guiding the scintillation light re-emitted by the fiber to the G-APD through optical windows in the cryostat shields. With a 0.8 mm diameter multiclad fiber and a 1 mm active area G-APD the coupling efficiency of the 'lens light guide' is about 50%. A reliable performance of the detector down to 3 K is demonstrated.

Scintillation γ spectrography. Physical principles. Apparatus. Operation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Julliot, C.

1960-01-01

The scintillation detector forms the main part of the instrument used, the electronic unit presenting the results produced. After a brief description of the process of γ photon absorption in the material, the particular case of NaI (T1), the scintillator used, is examined. The intensity of the scintillation caused by γ ray absorption and the characteristics of the photomultiplier play a determining part in the energy resolution of the instrument. For the γ recording spectrograph, we show to what extent the technique for using the electronic unit can modify the results. A detailed description is given of the activity measurement of a γ-emitting radioelement by the spectrographic method. (author) [fr

Coronal Radio Sounding Experiments with Mars Express: Scintillation Spectra during Low Solar Activity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Efimov, A. I.; Lukanina, L. A.; Samoznaev, L. N.; Rudash, V. K.; Chashei, I. V.; Bird, M. K.; Paetzold, M.; Tellmann, S.

2010-01-01

Coronal radio sounding observations were carried out with the radio science experiment MaRS on the ESA spacecraft Mars Express during the period from 25 August to 22 October 2004. Differential frequency and log-amplitude fluctuations of the dual-frequency signals were recorded during a period of low solar activity. The data are applicable to low heliographic latitudes, i.e. to slow solar wind. The mean frequency fluctuation and power law index of the frequency fluctuation temporal spectra are determined as a function of heliocentric distance. The radial dependence of the frequency fluctuation spectral index α reflects the previously documented flattening of the scintillation power spectra in the solar wind acceleration region. Temporal spectra of S-band and X-band normalized log-amplitude fluctuations were investigated over the range of fluctuation frequencies 0.01 Hz<ν<0.5 Hz, where the spectral density is approximately constant. The radial variation of the spectral density is analyzed and compared with Ulysses 1991 data, a period of high solar activity. Ranging measurements are presented and compared with frequency and log-amplitude scintillation data. Evidence for a weak increase in the fractional electron density turbulence level is obtained in the range 10-40 solar radii.

Ionospheric scintillation monitoring and modelling

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mariusz Pozoga

2009-06-01

Full Text Available

This paper presents a review of the ionospheric scintillation monitoring and modelling by the European groups

involved in COST 296. Several of these groups have organized scintillation measurement campaigns at low and

high latitudes. Some characteristic results obtained from the measured data are presented. The paper also addresses the modeling activities: four models, based on phase screen techniques, with different options and application domains are detailed. Finally some new trends for research topics are given. This includes the wavelet analysis, the high latitudes analysis, the construction of scintillation maps and the mitigation techniques.

Scintillator device using a combined organic-inorganic scintillator as dose ratemeter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kolb, W.; Lauterbach, U.

1974-01-01

The dose ratemeter independent of energy in the energy region 17 keV to 3 MeV consists of an organic and an inorganic scintillator. The organic scintillation material of an anthracene monocrystal is surrounded by ZnS surface coating. The coating thickness of the inorganic scintillator ZnS is measured in such a manner for gamma and X-radiation below 100 keV that the light produced due to the incident radiation compensates for the decrease of light produced in the organic scintillator. The whole energy and dose rate region of interest for radiation protection can thus be measured with a detector volume of 135 cm 3 . (DG) [de

Performance of molded plastic scintillators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gen, N.S.; Leman, V.E.; Solomonov, V.M.

1989-01-01

The performance of molded plastic scintillators is studied. The plastic scintillators studied were formed by transfer molding and intrusion from a scintillation composition consisting of polystyrene and a standard system of luminescent additives: 2 mass % of paraterphenyl + 0.06 mass % 1,4-di-/2-[5-phenyloxazoyly]/benzene and a plasticizer. The combined effect of mechanical load and temperature was studied. The effect of radiation on molded plastic scintillators was studied using gamma radiation from a 60 Co source. The studies show that the main operating characteristics of molded plastic scintillators are on a par with those of polymerized plastic scintillators. At the same time, molded plastic scintillators are superior in thermal stability at temperatures below the glass transition temperature and with respect to their working temperature range

Development of scintillation materials for medical imaging and other applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Melcher, C. L.

2013-01-01

Scintillation materials that produce pulses of visible light in response to the absorption of energetic photons, neutrons, and charged particles, are widely used in various applications that require the detection of radiation. The discovery and development of new scintillators has accelerated in recent years, due in large part to their importance in medical imaging as well as in security and high energy physics applications. Better understanding of fundamental scintillation mechanisms as well as the roles played by defects and impurities have aided the development of new high performance scintillators for both gamma-ray and neutron detection. Although single crystals continue to dominate gamma-ray based imaging techniques, composite materials and transparent optical ceramics potentially offer advantages in terms of both synthesis processes and scintillation performance. A number of promising scintillator candidates have been identified during the last few years, and several are currently being actively developed for commercial production. Purification and control of raw materials and cost effective crystal growth processes can present significant challenges to the development of practical new scintillation materials.

Radon determination by activated charcoal adsorption and liquid scintillation measurement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lopez, F.O.; Canoba, A.C.

1998-01-01

A passive diffusion method for the determination of radon concentration has been optimised and calibrated. The device consists of a scintillation vial containing activated charcoal, a diffusion barrier and a desiccant agent. The response to diverse atmospheric humidity and variable exposure intervals was studied. The result is a detector, which is independent of atmospheric humidity for at least (up to) 7 days of exposure. The method was compared with electret detectors (US EPA) with very satisfactory results. The advantages of this method are its simplicity, low cost, low detection limit, the total automatization of the measurement and its total independence of humidity to measure in a wide range of radon concentrations. (author) [es

Low cost plastic scintillator by using commercial polystyrene

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oktar, O.; Ari, G.; Guenduez, O.; Demirel, H.; Demirbas, A.

2009-01-01

Plastic scintillation detectors have been used in nuclear and high energy physics for many decades. Among their benefits are fast response, ease of manufacture and versatility. Their main drawbacks are radiation resistance and cost. Plastic Scintillators can be described as solid materials which contain organic fluorescent compounds dissolved within a polymer matri10. Transparent plastics commonly used for light scintillation are Polystyrene (or PS, poly-vinyl-benzene) and polyvinyl-toluene (or PVT, poly-methyl-styron). In this activity, preliminary studies for low cost plastic scintillator production by using commercial polystyrene pellets and extrusion method were aimed. For this purpose, PS blocks consist of commercial fluorescent dopant were prepared by an extruder in SANAEM. Molds suitable for extruder were designed and manufactured and optimum production parameters such as extrusion temperature profile, extrusion rate and pressure were obtained. Plastic blocks prepared were optically and mechanically tested and its response against various radioactive sources was measured.This study has shown that plastic scintillators imported can be produced in SANAEM domestically and be used for detection of radioactive materials within the country or border gates.

Amplitude scintillations of ATS-6 radio signals in Lannion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cornec, J.P.

1978-01-01

The paper reports the results of a study of the scintillations observed on the amplitude of signal transmitted by the geostationary satellite ATS-6 on 40, 140, and 360 MHz, received at Lannion, France. Diffraction patterns caused bubbles of irregularities are studied and found to be mainly a summer phenomenon. It is concluded that there is a great increase in frequency occurrence and in the strength of scintillations from winter to summer, and that for the whole observation period, scintillation is mainly a nighttime pheonomenon, reaching its maximum activity at 2100-2200

Scintillation hodoscopes on the basis of hodoscopic photomultipliers using scintillation fibers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alimova, T.V.; Vasil'chenko, V.G.; Vechkanov, G.N.

1986-01-01

Scintillation hodoscopes characteristics and their design features have been considered. The space resolution for hodoscopes consisting of 4 layers of scintillation fibres 200 mm long and 1 mm in diameter is 0.4-0.6 mm. With 2 fibres layer 1 m long and 3.8 mm in diameter the space resolution 3 mm has been obtained. A possibility to construct 0.1 mm resolution scintillation hodoscopes is discussed

Space Weather Research in the Equatorial Region: A Philosophical Reinforcement

Science.gov (United States)

Chukwuma, Victor; Odunaike, Rasaki; Laoye, John

Investigations using radio waves reflected from the ionosphere, at high-and mid-latitudes indicate that ionospheric absorption can strongly increase following geomagnetic storms; which appears to suggest some definite relationship between ionospheric radio wave absorption and geomagnetic storms at these latitudes. However, corresponding earlier studies in the equatorial region did not appear to show any explicit relationship between ionospheric radio wave absorption and geomagnetic storm activity. This position appeared acceptable to the existing scientific paradigm, until in an act of paradigm shift, by a change of storm selection criteria, some more recent space weather investigations in the low latitudes showed that ionospheric radio wave absorption in the equatorial region clearly increases after intense storms. Given that these results in the equatorial region stood against the earlier results, this paper presently attempts to highlight their philosophical underpinning and posit that they constitute a scientific statement.

A more rugged ZnS(Ag) alpha scintillation detector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McElhaney, S.A.; Ramsey, J.A.; Bauer, M.L.; Chiles, M.M.

1990-01-01

Conventional alpha scintillation detectors comprise a phosphor-coated light-pipe covered by a thin aluminized Mylar layer. This opaque radiation entrance window serves as a shield against ambient light entering the detector with minimum alpha attenuation. Unfortunately, Mylar is extremely fragile and easily punctured or torn by sticks, stones, and screws encountered during regular radiation surveys. The authors have been developing an alpha scintillation detector more rugged and durable than conventional models. This paper presents the scintillator assembly, which consists of a mixture of silver-activated zinc sulfide [ZnS(Ag)] and clear epoxy. The ZnS(Ag) scintillation powder is mixed with a low-viscosity, optically transparent epoxy and poured into a glass-smooth mold of desired shape and size

Tritium Activity Measurement of Water Samples Using Liquid Scintillation Counter and Electrolytical Enrichment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baresic, J.; Krajcar Bronic, I.; Horvatincic, N.; Obelic, B.; Sironic, A.; Kozar-Logar J.

2011-01-01

Tritium (3H) activity of natural waters (precipitation, groundwater, surface waters) has recently become too low to be directly measured by low-level liquid scintillation (LSC) techniques. It is therefore necessary to perform electrolytical enrichment of tritium in such waters prior to LSC measurements. Electrolytical enrichment procedure has been implemented at the Rudjer Boskovic Institute (RBI) Tritium Laboratory in 2008, and since then 19 electrolyses have been completed. The mean enrichment factor E (a ratio between the final and initial 3H activities) after stabilisation of the system is E R BI = 22.5 @ 0.5, and the mean enrichment parameter (which describes the process of water mass reduction during electrolysis) is P R BI 0.949 @ 0.003. These values are comparable with those obtained at the Jo@ef Stefan Institute (JSI) Laboratory for liquid scintillation counting, at the electrolysis equipment of the same producer (AGH University of Science and Technology, Krakow, Poland) after 66 electrolyses carried out under identical conditions since 2007: E J SI = 18.9 @ 1.5, and P J SI = 0.896 @ 0.021. Both RBI and JSI laboratories have Ultra-low-level LSC Quantulus 1220 (Wallac, PerkinElmer) for measurement of 3H activity. A set of water samples having 3H activities in the range from 0 TU (''dead-water'' samples) to 18 000 TU (1 TU 0.118 Bq/L) were measured at both laboratories. Samples having 3H activity <200 TU were electrolytically enriched, while the others were measured directly in LSC. A very good agreement was obtained (correlation coefficient 0.991). Both laboratories participated in the IAEA TRIC2008 international intercomparison exercise. The analyses of reported 3H activity results in terms of z and u parameters showed that all results in both laboratories were acceptable. (author)

Alpha/beta pulse shape discrimination in plastic scintillation using commercial scintillation detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bagan, H.; Tarancon, A.; Rauret, G.; Garcia, J.F.

2010-01-01

Activity determination in different types of samples is a current need in many different fields. Simultaneously analysing alpha and beta emitters is now a routine option when using liquid scintillation (LS) and pulse shape discrimination. However, LS has an important drawback, the generation of mixed waste. Recently, several studies have shown the capability of plastic scintillation (PS) as an alternative to LS, but no research has been carried out to determine its capability for alpha/beta discrimination. The objective of this study was to evaluate the capability of PS to discriminate alpha/beta emitters on the basis of pulse shape analysis (PSA). The results obtained show that PS pulses had lower energy than LS pulses. As a consequence, a lower detection efficiency, a shift to lower energies and a better discrimination of beta and a worst discrimination of alpha disintegrations was observed for PS. Colour quenching also produced a decrease in the energy of the particles, as well as the effects described above. It is clear that in PS, the discrimination capability was correlated with the energy of the particles detected. Taking into account the discrimination capabilities of PS, a protocol for the measurement and the calculation of alpha and beta activities in mixtures using PS and commercial scintillation detectors has been proposed. The new protocol was applied to the quantification of spiked river water samples containing a pair of radionuclides ( 3 H- 241 Am or 90 Sr/ 90 Y- 241 Am) in different activity proportions. The relative errors in all determinations were lower than 7%. These results demonstrate the capability of PS to discriminate alpha/beta emitters on the basis of pulse shape and to quantify mixtures without generating mixed waste.

Use of proportional gas scintillator in absolute measurements of alpha-gamma emitter activities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tobias, C.C.B.

1987-01-01

The absolute activity of U-235 contained in a U 3 O 8 sample was measured utilizing a sum-coincidence circuit which selects only the alpha particles which are simultaneous with the 143 KeV and 186 KeV gamma radiations from the Th-231 (product nucleus). The alpha particles were detected by means of a new type of a gas scintillating chamber, in which the light emitted by excitation of the gas atoms, due to the passage of a charged incoming particle, has its intensity increased by the action of an applied electric field. The gamma radiations were detected by means of a NaI(Tl) 1'' x 1 1/2'' scintillation detector. The value obtained for the half-life of U-235 was compared with the data available from various observers which used different experimental techniques. It is shown tht the results, are in excellent agreement with the best international data available on the subject and that, therefore, the sum-coincidence technique constitutes an important method for such measurements. (Author) [pt

Verification of threshold activation detection (TAD) technique in prompt fission neutron detection using scintillators containing 19F

Science.gov (United States)

Sibczynski, P.; Kownacki, J.; Moszyński, M.; Iwanowska-Hanke, J.; Syntfeld-Każuch, A.; Gójska, A.; Gierlik, M.; Kaźmierczak, Ł.; Jakubowska, E.; Kędzierski, G.; Kujawiński, Ł.; Wojnarowicz, J.; Carrel, F.; Ledieu, M.; Lainé, F.

2015-09-01

In the present study ⌀ 5''× 3'' and ⌀ 2''× 2'' EJ-313 liquid fluorocarbon as well as ⌀ 2'' × 3'' BaF2 scintillators were exposed to neutrons from a 252Cf neutron source and a Sodern Genie 16GT deuterium-tritium (D+T) neutron generator. The scintillators responses to β- particles with maximum endpoint energy of 10.4 MeV from the n+19F reactions were studied. Response of a ⌀ 5'' × 3'' BC-408 plastic scintillator was also studied as a reference. The β- particles are the products of interaction of fast neutrons with 19F which is a component of the EJ-313 and BaF2 scintillators. The method of fast neutron detection via fluorine activation is already known as Threshold Activation Detection (TAD) and was proposed for photofission prompt neutron detection from fissionable and Special Nuclear Materials (SNM) in the field of Homeland Security and Border Monitoring. Measurements of the number of counts between 6.0 and 10.5 MeV with a 252Cf source showed that the relative neutron detection efficiency ratio, defined as epsilonBaF2 / epsilonEJ-313-5'', is 32.0% ± 2.3% and 44.6% ± 3.4% for front-on and side-on orientation of the BaF2, respectively. Moreover, the ⌀ 5'' EJ-313 and side-on oriented BaF2 were also exposed to neutrons from the D+T neutron generator, and the relative efficiency epsilonBaF2 / epsilonEJ-313-5'' was estimated to be 39.3%. Measurements of prompt photofission neutrons with the BaF2 detector by means of data acquisition after irradiation (out-of-beam) of nuclear material and between the beam pulses (beam-off) techniques were also conducted on the 9 MeV LINAC of the SAPHIR facility.

Alpha scintillation radon counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lucas, H.F. Jr.

1977-01-01

Radon counting chambers which utilize the alpha-scintillation properties of silver activated zinc sulfide are simple to construct, have a high efficiency, and, with proper design, may be relatively insensitive to variations in the pressure or purity of the counter filling. Chambers which were constructed from glass, metal, or plastic in a wide variety of shapes and sizes were evaluated for the accuracy and the precision of the radon counting. The principles affecting the alpha-scintillation radon counting chamber design and an analytic system suitable for a large scale study of the 222 Rn and 226 Ra content of either air or other environmental samples are described. Particular note is taken of those factors which affect the accuracy and the precision of the method for monitoring radioactivity around uranium mines

Scintillating properties of frozen new liquid scintillators

CERN Document Server

Britvich, G I; Golovkin, S V; Martellotti, G; Medvedkov, A M; Penso, G; Soloviev, A S; Vasilchenko, V G

1999-01-01

The light emission from scintillators which are liquid at room temperature was studied in the interval between $+20$~$^{\\circ}$C and $-120$~$^{\\circ}$C, where the phase transition from liquid to solid takes place. The light yield measured at $-120$~$^{\\circ}$C is about twice as much as that observed at $+20$~$^{\\circ}$C. By cooling the scintillator from $+20$~$^{\\circ}$C to $-120$~$^{\\circ}$C and then heating it from $-120$~$^{\\circ}$C to $+20$~$^{\\circ}$C, the light yield varies in steps at well defined temperatures, which are different for the cooling and heating processes. These hysteresis phenomena appear to be related to the solvent rather than to the dopant. The decay time of scintillation light was measured at $+20$~$^{\\circ}$C and $-120$~$^{\\circ}$C. Whilst at room temperature most of the light is emitted with a decay time of 6--8 ns, at $-120$~$^{\\circ}$C a slower component, with a decay time of 25--35 ns, becomes important.

Prospects for first-principle calculations of scintillator properties

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Derenzo, Stephen E.; Weber, Marvin J.

1999-01-01

Several scintillation processes can be modeled from first principles using quantum chemistry cluster calculations and recently available high-performance computers. These processes include the formation of excitons and trapping centers, the diffusion of ionization energy (electrons and holes) through a host crystal, and the efficient capture of these carriers by an activator atom to form a luminous, non-quenched excited state. As examples of such calculations, results are presented for (1) hole transport in the known scintillator host crystal CsI, (2) hole trapping in the non-scintillator PbF 2 , (3) hole transport in the experimentally unexplored PbF 4 , and (4) the electronic nature of excited states of CsI : Tl and CsI : Na

Scintillator manufacture at Fermilab

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mellott, K.; Bross, A.; Pla-Dalmau, A.

1998-08-01

A decade of research into plastic scintillation materials at Fermilab is reviewed. Early work with plastic optical fiber fabrication is revisited and recent experiments with large-scale commercial methods for production of bulk scintillator are discussed. Costs for various forms of scintillator are examined and new development goals including cost reduction methods and quality improvement techniques are suggested.

Extruding plastic scintillator at Fermilab

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pla-Dalmau, Anna; Bross, Alain D.; Rykalin, Viktor V.

2003-01-01

An understanding of the costs involved in the production of plastic scintillators and the development of a less expensive material have become necessary with the prospects of building very large plastic scintillation detectors. Several factors contribute to the high cost of plastic scintillating sheets, but the principal reason is the labor-intensive nature of the manufacturing process. In order to significantly lower the costs, the current casting procedures had to be abandoned. Since polystyrene is widely used in the consumer industry, the logical path was to investigate the extrusion of commercial-grade polystyrene pellets with dopants to yield high quality plastic scintillator. This concept was tested and high quality extruded plastic scintillator was produced. The D0 and MINOS experiments are already using extruded scintillator strips in their detectors. An extrusion line has recently been installed at Fermilab in collaboration with NICADD (Northern Illinois Center for Accelerator and Detector Development). This new facility will serve to further develop and improve extruded plastic scintillator. This paper will discuss the characteristics of extruded plastic scintillator and its raw materials, the different manufacturing techniques and the current R andD program at Fermilab

Photoelectric panel with equatorial mounting of drive

Science.gov (United States)

Kukhta, M. S.; Krauinsh, P. Y.; Krauinsh, D. P.; Sokolov, A. P.; Mainy, S. B.

2018-03-01

The relevance of the work is determined by the need to create effective models for sunny energy. The article considers a photoelectric panel equipped with a system for tracking the sun. Efficiency of the system is provided by equatorial mounting, which compensates for the rotation of the Earth by rotating the sunny panel in the plane of the celestial equator. The specificity of climatic and geographical conditions of Tomsk is estimated. The dynamics of power variations of photoelectric panels with equatorial mounting during seasonal fluctuations in Tomsk is calculated. A mobile photovoltaic panel with equatorial mounting of the drive has been developed. The methods of design strategy for placing photovoltaic panels in the architectural environment of the city are presented. Key words: sunny energy, photovoltaics, equatorial mounting, mechatronic model, wave reducer, electric drive.

Scintillation counting apparatus

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Noakes, J.E.

1978-01-01

Apparatus is described for the accurate measurement of radiation by means of scintillation counters and in particular for the liquid scintillation counting of both soft beta radiation and gamma radiation. Full constructional and operating details are given. (UK)

Detection of ionospheric scintillation effects using LMD-DFA

Science.gov (United States)

Tadivaka, Raghavendra Vishnu; Paruchuri, Bhanu Priyanka; Miriyala, Sridhar; Koppireddi, Padma Raju; Devanaboyina, Venkata Ratnam

2017-08-01

The performance and measurement accuracy of global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receivers is greatly affected by ionospheric scintillations. Rapid amplitude and phase variations in the received GPS signal, known as ionospheric scintillation, affects the tracking of signals by GNSS receivers. Hence, there is a need to investigate the monitoring of various activities of the ionosphere and to develop a novel approach for mitigation of ionospheric scintillation effects. A method based on Local Mean Decomposition (LMD)-Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (DFA) has been proposed. The GNSS data recorded at Koneru Lakshmaiah (K L) University, Guntur, India were considered for analysis. The carrier to noise ratio (C/N0) of GNSS satellite vehicles were decomposed into several product functions (PF) using LMD to extract the intrinsic features in the signal. Scintillation noise was removed by the DFA algorithm by selecting a suitable threshold. It was observed that the performance of the proposed LMD-DFA was better than that of empirical mode decomposition (EMD)-DFA.

Role of interannual Kelvin wave propagations in the equatorial Atlantic on the Angola Benguela Current system

Science.gov (United States)

Imbol Koungue, Rodrigue Anicet; Illig, Serena; Rouault, Mathieu

2017-06-01

The link between equatorial Atlantic Ocean variability and the coastal region of Angola-Namibia is investigated at interannual time scales from 1998 to 2012. An index of equatorial Kelvin wave activity is defined based on Prediction and Research Moored Array in the Tropical Atlantic (PIRATA). Along the equator, results show a significant correlation between interannual PIRATA monthly dynamic height anomalies, altimetric monthly Sea Surface Height Anomalies (SSHA), and SSHA calculated with an Ocean Linear Model. This allows us to interpret PIRATA records in terms of equatorial Kelvin waves. Estimated phase speed of eastward propagations from PIRATA equatorial mooring remains in agreement with the linear theory, emphasizing the dominance of the second baroclinic mode. Systematic analysis of all strong interannual equatorial SSHA shows that they precede by 1-2 months extreme interannual Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies along the African coast, which confirms the hypothesis that major warm and cold events in the Angola-Benguela current system are remotely forced by ocean atmosphere interactions in the equatorial Atlantic. Equatorial wave dynamics is at the origin of their developments. Wind anomalies in the Western Equatorial Atlantic force equatorial downwelling and upwelling Kelvin waves that propagate eastward along the equator and then poleward along the African coast triggering extreme warm and cold events, respectively. A proxy index based on linear ocean dynamics appears to be significantly more correlated with coastal variability than an index based on wind variability. Results show a seasonal phasing, with significantly higher correlations between our equatorial index and coastal SSTA in October-April season.

Liquid scintillation measurement. I

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rexa, R.; Tykva, R.

1983-01-01

The individual components of scintillation solutions and their tasks are listed. Explained briefly is the scintillation process in a liquid scintillator. Factors are discussed which influence this process as are methods applied to supress their influence. They include: ionization quenching, quenching by dilution and concentration, chemical, colour, phase and photon quenching and single-photon events causing an undesirable backgorund. (M.D.)

Intermonsoonal equatorial jets

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Muraleedharan, P.M.

, respectively. Hydrographic features and transport computations favour a well developed equatorial jet during both seasons. The net surface eastward and subsurface westward flows are well balanced during the premonsoon transition period and appear...

Cherenkov and scintillation light separation in organic liquid scintillators

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Caravaca, J.; Descamps, F.B.; Land, B.J.; Orebi Gann, G.D. [University of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA (United States); Yeh, M. [Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY (United States)

2017-12-15

The CHErenkov/Scintillation Separation experiment (CHESS) has been used to demonstrate the separation of Cherenkov and scintillation light in both linear alkylbenzene (LAB) and LAB with 2 g/L of PPO as a fluor (LAB/PPO). This is the first successful demonstration of Cherenkov light detection from the more challenging LAB/PPO cocktail and improves on previous results for LAB. A time resolution of 338 ± 12 ps FWHM results in an efficiency for identifying Cherenkov photons in LAB/PPO of 70 ± 3% and 63 ± 8% for time- and charge-based separation, respectively, with scintillation contamination of 36 ± 5% and 38 ± 4. LAB/PPO data is consistent with a rise time of τ{sub r} = 0.72 ± 0.33 ns. (orig.)

Cherenkov and scintillation light separation in organic liquid scintillators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Caravaca, J.; Descamps, F.B.; Land, B.J.; Orebi Gann, G.D.; Yeh, M.

2017-01-01

The CHErenkov/Scintillation Separation experiment (CHESS) has been used to demonstrate the separation of Cherenkov and scintillation light in both linear alkylbenzene (LAB) and LAB with 2 g/L of PPO as a fluor (LAB/PPO). This is the first successful demonstration of Cherenkov light detection from the more challenging LAB/PPO cocktail and improves on previous results for LAB. A time resolution of 338 ± 12 ps FWHM results in an efficiency for identifying Cherenkov photons in LAB/PPO of 70 ± 3% and 63 ± 8% for time- and charge-based separation, respectively, with scintillation contamination of 36 ± 5% and 38 ± 4. LAB/PPO data is consistent with a rise time of τ r = 0.72 ± 0.33 ns. (orig.)

A miniature gamma ray dosimeter with CWO scintillator and plastic optical fiber combination

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jae Woo Park, Min Woo Seo

2008-01-01

Full text: Fiber-optic scintillation dosimeters possess several favorable characteristics, such as remote measurability and superior spatial resolution. Such a radiation dosimeter model was developed by attaching a small piece of CWO (CdWO 4 ) scintillator to a low attenuation plastic optical fiber. CWO was chosen since the higher atomic numbers of Cd and W would render the size of the scintillator smaller. The size of the scintillator was 4.7x4.7x10 mm 3 . The scintillator was optically glued to the plastic optical fiber of 3 mm diameter and 10 m length. A current-type PMT was optically coupled to the other end of the fiber to convert the lights generated in the scintillator into current signals. The dosimeter model was tested with two 60 Co standard sources of 0.5 mCi and 1 mCi to measure the PMT current as a function of the source-to-detector distance. It was then tested in a 60 Co irradiation chamber with an activity of about 6600 Ci. MCNPX simulations were performed for the source and detector arrangements to calculate the deposited energy in the CWO scintillator. The profiles of the measured current change are compared with those of the calculated energy deposition change. While there is some deviation between the measured and calculated profiles obtained with the lower-activity standard sources, the measured profile accurately coincides with the calculated one obtained in the higher-activity irradiation chamber. This study suggests that the fiber-optic scintillation dosimeter, operated in current mode, can be used to remotely measure radiation doses in high-intensity gamma fields

WORKSHOP: Scintillating fibre detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1989-01-01

Scintillating fibre detector development and technology for the proposed US Superconducting Supercollider, SSC, was the subject of a recent workshop at Fermilab, with participation from the high energy physics community and from industry. Sessions covered the current status of fibre technology and fibre detectors, new detector applications, fluorescent materials and scintillation compositions, radiation damage effects, amplification and imaging structures, and scintillation fibre fabrication techniques

A scintillation detector signal processing technique with active pileup prevention for extending scintillation count rates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wong, W.H.; Li, H.

1998-01-01

A new method for processing signals from scintillation detectors is proposed for very high count-rate situations where multiple-event pileups are the norm. This method is designed to sort out and recover every impinging event from multiple-event pileups while maximizing the collection of scintillation signal for every event to achieve optimal accuracy in determining the energy of the event. For every detected event, this method cancels the remnant signals from previous events, and excludes the pileup of signals from following events. With this technique, pileup events can be recovered and the energy of every recovered event can be optimally measured despite multiple pileups. A prototype circuit demonstrated that the maximum count rates have been increased by more than 10 times, comparing to the standard pulse-shaping method, while the energy resolution is as good as that of the pulse shaping (or the fixed integration) method at normal count rates. At 2 x 10 6 events/sec for NaI(Tl), the true counts acquired are 3 times more than the delay-line clipping method (commonly used in fast processing designs) due to events recovered from pileups. Pulse-height spectra up to 3.5 x 10 6 events/sec have been studied

Electron traps and scintillation mechanism in YAlO3:Ce and LuAlO3:Ce scintillators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wojtowicz, A.J.; Glodo, J.; Drozdowski, W.; Przegietka, K.R.

1998-01-01

In this paper we present the results of thermoluminescence, isothermal decay and scintillation light yield measurements on two isostructural scintillator materials, YAlO 3 :Ce and LuAlO 3 :Ce. In addition to the variety of deep traps identified by thermoluminescence and isothermal decays, scintillation light yield experiments demonstrate the presence in both materials of a number of relatively shallow traps. While the deep traps may reduce the scintillation light yield, they do not influence the kinetics of the process. The shallow traps, on the other hand, by interfering with the process of radiative recombination of charge carriers via Ce 3+ ions, can strongly affect not only the yield of the scintillation process but its kinetics as well. The presence of shallow traps provides a consistent explanation for a number of poorly understood relationships between the two scintillator materials, including a higher room temperature scintillation light yield and longer scintillation decay time in YAlO 3 :Ce, and a longer scintillation rise time in LuAlO 3 :Ce. Theoretical analysis indicates that elimination of these traps would make the two materials nearly identical in scintillator performance. Although the specific identity of all traps remains elusive, the performance of both scintillator materials is now, in practical terms, fully understood. (Copyright (c) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam. All rights reserved.)

Photon statistics in scintillation crystals

Science.gov (United States)

Bora, Vaibhav Joga Singh

Scintillation based gamma-ray detectors are widely used in medical imaging, high-energy physics, astronomy and national security. Scintillation gamma-ray detectors are eld-tested, relatively inexpensive, and have good detection eciency. Semi-conductor detectors are gaining popularity because of their superior capability to resolve gamma-ray energies. However, they are relatively hard to manufacture and therefore, at this time, not available in as large formats and much more expensive than scintillation gamma-ray detectors. Scintillation gamma-ray detectors consist of: a scintillator, a material that emits optical (scintillation) photons when it interacts with ionization radiation, and an optical detector that detects the emitted scintillation photons and converts them into an electrical signal. Compared to semiconductor gamma-ray detectors, scintillation gamma-ray detectors have relatively poor capability to resolve gamma-ray energies. This is in large part attributed to the "statistical limit" on the number of scintillation photons. The origin of this statistical limit is the assumption that scintillation photons are either Poisson distributed or super-Poisson distributed. This statistical limit is often dened by the Fano factor. The Fano factor of an integer-valued random process is dened as the ratio of its variance to its mean. Therefore, a Poisson process has a Fano factor of one. The classical theory of light limits the Fano factor of the number of photons to a value greater than or equal to one (Poisson case). However, the quantum theory of light allows for Fano factors to be less than one. We used two methods to look at the correlations between two detectors looking at same scintillation pulse to estimate the Fano factor of the scintillation photons. The relationship between the Fano factor and the correlation between the integral of the two signals detected was analytically derived, and the Fano factor was estimated using the measurements for SrI2:Eu, YAP

Manual calibration of liquid scintillation counter using the channel ratio technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moussa, H.M.; Townsend, L.; Miller, L.F.

1999-01-01

The objectives of this activity are to introduce students to liquid scintillation counting and to calibrate the counter using the sample channel ratio technique. This is accomplished by using quenched standards set for 14 C and tritium ( 3 H) to generate a quench correction curve for the scintillation solution. It is a good method for students to gain a detailed understanding of issues important to manual calibration of a liquid scintillation counter, and results can be compared with a built-in automatic method

Development of High-Resolution Scintillator Systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Larry A. Franks; Warnick J. Kernan

2007-01-01

Mercuric iodide (HgI2) is a well known material for the direct detection of gamma-rays; however, the largest volume achievable is limited by the thickness of the detector which needs to be a small fraction of the average trapping length for electrons. We report results of using HgI2 crystals to fabricate photocells used in the readout of scintillators. The optical spectral response and efficiency of these photocells were measured and will be reported. Nuclear response from an HgI2 photocell that was optically matched to a cerium-activated scintillator is presented and discussed. Further improvements can be expected by optimizing the transparent contact technology

Quantum cloning machines for equatorial qubits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fan Heng; Matsumoto, Keiji; Wang Xiangbin; Wadati, Miki

2002-01-01

Quantum cloning machines for equatorial qubits are studied. For the case of a one to two phase-covariant quantum cloning machine, we present the networks consisting of quantum gates to realize the quantum cloning transformations. The copied equatorial qubits are shown to be separable by using Peres-Horodecki criterion. The optimal one to M phase-covariant quantum cloning transformations are given

Uranium-scintillator device

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, S.D.

1979-01-01

The calorimeter subgroup of the 1977 ISABELLE Summer Workshop strongly recommended investigation of the uranium-scintillator device because of its several attractive features: (1) increased resolution for hadronic energy, (2) fast time response, (3) high density (i.e., 16 cm of calorimeter per interaction length), and, in comparison with uranium--liquid argon detectors, (4) ease of construction, (5) simple electronics, and (6) lower cost. The AFM group at the CERN ISR became interested in such a calorimeter for substantially the same reasons, and in the fall of 1977 carried out tests on a uranium-scintillator (U-Sc) calorimeter with the same uranium plates used in their 1974 studies of the uranium--liquid argon (U-LA) calorimeter. The chief disadvantage of the scintillator test was that the uranium plates were too small to fully contain the hadronic showers. However, since the scintillator and liquid argon tests were made with the plates, direct comparison of the two types of devices could be made

Studying the properties of the new class of organic scintillators-salicylic acid derivatives

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mandzhukov, I.G.; Mandzhukova, B.V.; Bonchev, Ts.V.; Lazarova, G.I.

1981-01-01

Li, Na, K, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, La, Cd, Al, Sn, NH 4 salicylates are synthesized. Their relative scintillation efficiency during irradiation with α-particles of 5.156 MeV energy (sup(239)Pu) is determined. Scintillation efficiency of salicylates has been evaluated by comparing amplitude of scintillation pulse from salicylate with pulse amplitude from anthracene and other classical scintillators. Amplitude analysis has been conducted by standard methods. The analysis of the results obtained shows that sodium salicylate has the highest relative scintillation efficiency comparable with naphthalene efficiency. Salicylates of alkali Li and K metals as well as Ca and Cd salicylates have high relative scintillation efficiency. It is concluded that the investigated salicylates can be used for detection of (n, α), (n, p) and other reactions accompanying neutron capture not only during their reactions but by measuring activity induced in the scintillator [ru

Full Polarimetric Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Data for ionosphere observation - A comparative study

Science.gov (United States)

Mohanty, S.; Singh, G.

2017-12-01

Ionosphere, predominantly, govern the propagation of radio waves, especially at L-band and lower frequencies. Small-scale, rapid fluctuations in the electron density, termed as scintillation phenomenon, cause rapid variations in signal amplitude and phase. Scintillation studies have been done using ground-based radio transmitter and beacon GPS signals. In this work, attempt has been made to utilize full polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite signal at L-band (1.27 GHz) to develop a new measurement index for SAR signal intensity fluctuation. Datasets acquired from Japan's latest Advanced Land Observation Satellite (ALOS)-2 over the Indian subcontinent on two different dates, with varying ionospheric activities, have been utilized to compare the index. A 20% increase in the index values for a scintillation-affected day has been observed. The result coincides with the nature of ionospheric scintillation pattern typically observed over the equatorial belt. Total electron content values, for the two dates of acquisition, obtained from freely available Ionosphere Exchange (IONEX) data have been used to validate the varying ionospheric activities as well as the trend in index results. Another interesting finding of the paper is the demarcation of the equatorial anomaly belt. The index values are comparatively higher at these latitudes on a scintillation-affected day. Furthermore, the SAR signal intensity fluctuation index has great potential in being used as a preliminary measurement index to identify low frequency SAR data affected by ionospheric scintillation.

Scintillating plate calorimeter optical design

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McNeil, R.; Fazely, A.; Gunasingha, R.; Imlay, R.; Lim, J.

1990-01-01

A major technical challenge facing the builder of a general purpose detector for the SSC is to achieve an optimum design for the calorimeter. Because of its fast response and good energy resolution, scintillating plate sampling calorimeters should be considered as a possible technology option. The work of the Scintillating Plate Calorimeter Collaboration is focused on compensating plate calorimeters. Based on experimental and simulation studies, it is expected that a sampling calorimeter with alternating layers of high-Z absorber (Pb, W, DU, etc.) and plastic scintillator can be made compensating (e/h = 1.00) by suitable choice of the ratio of absorber/scintillator thickness. Two conceptual designs have been pursued by this subsystem collaboration. One is based on lead as the absorber, with read/out of the scintillator plates via wavelength shifter fibers. The other design is based on depleted uranium as the absorber with wavelength shifter (WLS) plate readout. Progress on designs for the optical readout of a compensating scintillator plate calorimeter are presented. These designs include readout of the scintillator plates via wavelength shifter plates or fiber readout. Results from radiation damage studies of the optical components are presented

Equatorial electrojet and its response to external electromagnetic effects

Science.gov (United States)

Bespalov, P. A.; Savina, O. N.

2012-09-01

In the quiet low-latitude Earth's ionosphere, a sufficiently developed current system that is responsible for the Sq magnetic-field variations is formed in quiet Sun days under the action of tidal streams. The density of the corresponding currents is maximum in the midday hours at the equatorial latitudes, where the so-called equatorial electrojet is formed. In this work, we discuss the nature of the equatorial electrojet. This paper studies the value of its response to external effects. First of all, it is concerned with estimating the possibility of using the equatorial electrojet for generating low-frequency electromagnetic signals during periodic heating of the ionosphere by the heating-facility radiation. The equatorial electrojet can also produce electrodynamic response to the natural atmospheric processes, e.g., an acoustic-gravity wave.

Scintillators and other particle optical detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chipaux, R.

2011-01-01

The author reports and comments his researcher career in the field of particle optical detectors. He addresses the cases of organic scintillators (scintillating fibers, liquid scintillators), inorganic scintillators (crystals for electromagnetic calorimetry, crystals for solar neutrino spectroscopy), and Cherenkov Effect detectors. He also reports his works on Cd Te detectors and their modelling

Luminescence rise time in self-activated PbWO{sub 4} and Ce-doped Gd{sub 3}Al{sub 2}Ga{sub 3}O{sub 12} scintillation crystals

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Auffray, E. [CERN, Geneva (Switzerland); Augulis, R. [Center for Physical Sciences and Technology, Savanorių av. 231, Vilnius (Lithuania); Borisevich, A. [Research Institute for Nuclear Problems, Bobruiskaya str. 11, Minsk (Belarus); Gulbinas, V. [Center for Physical Sciences and Technology, Savanorių av. 231, Vilnius (Lithuania); Fedorov, A.; Korjik, M. [Research Institute for Nuclear Problems, Bobruiskaya str. 11, Minsk (Belarus); Lucchini, M.T. [CERN, Geneva (Switzerland); Mechinsky, V. [Research Institute for Nuclear Problems, Bobruiskaya str. 11, Minsk (Belarus); Nargelas, S. [Vilnius University, Universiteto str. 3, Vilnius (Lithuania); Songaila, E. [Center for Physical Sciences and Technology, Savanorių av. 231, Vilnius (Lithuania); Tamulaitis, G. [Vilnius University, Universiteto str. 3, Vilnius (Lithuania); Vaitkevičius, A., E-mail: augustas.vaitkevicius@ff.vu.lt [Vilnius University, Universiteto str. 3, Vilnius (Lithuania); Zazubovich, S. [Institute of Physics, University of Tartu, W. Ostwaldi Str. 1, Tartu (Estonia)

2016-10-15

The time resolution of scintillation detectors of ionizing radiation is one of the key parameters sought for in the current and future high-energy physics experiments. This study is encouraged by the necessity to find novel detection methods enabling a sub-10-ps time resolution in scintillation detectors and is focused on the exploitation of fast luminescence rise front. Time-resolved photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy and thermally stimulated luminescence techniques have been used to study two promising scintillators: self-activated lead tungstate (PWO, PbWO{sub 4}) and Ce-doped gadolinium aluminum gallium garnet (GAGG, Gd{sub 3}Al{sub 2}Ga{sub 3}O{sub 12}). A sub-picosecond PL rise time is observed in PWO, while longer processes in the PL response in GAGG:Ce are detected and studied. The mechanisms responsible for the PL rise time in self-activated and doped scintillators are under discussion. - Highlights: • Photoluminescence rise time is studied in two scintillators: PWO and GAGG:Ce. • Sub-picosecond photoluminescence rise time in PWO is observed for the first time. • A multicomponent luminescence rise edge is observed in GAGG:Ce. • The mechanisms behind luminescence kinetics in the crystals are under discussion.

Irregular ionization and scintillation of the ionosphere in equator region

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shinno, Kenji

1974-01-01

The latest studies on the scintillation in satellite communication and its related irregularities of ionosphere are reviewed. They were made clear by means of spread-F, the direct measurement with scientific satellites, VHF radar observation, and radio wave propagation in equator region. The fundamental occurrence mechanism may be instability of plasma caused by the interaction of movement of neutral atmosphere and magnetic field. Comparison of the main characteristics of scintillation, namely the dependence on region, solar activity, season, local time, geomagnetic activity, movement in ionosphere, scattering source, frequency and transmission mode, was made and the correlation among spread-F, TEP and scintillation was summarized. The latest principal studies were the observations made by Intelsat and by ATS. Scintillation of Syncom-3 and Intelsat-II-F2 and spread-F by ionosphere observation were compared by Huang. It is reasonable to consider that the occurrence of scintillation is caused by the irregularities in ionosphere which are particular in equator region, because of the similar characteristics of spread-F and VHF propagation in the equator region. These three phenomena may occur in relation to the irregularities of ionosphere. Interpretation of spread-F and the abnormal propagation wave across the equator are given. The study using VHF radar and the movement of irregular ionization by the direct observation with artificial satellites are reviewd. (Iwakiri, K.)

Microfluidic Scintillation Detectors for High Energy Physics

CERN Document Server

Maoddi, Pietro; Mapelli, Alessandro

This thesis deals with the development and study of microfluidic scintillation detectors, a technology of recent introduction for the detection of high energy particles. Most of the interest for such devices comes from the use of a liquid scintillator, which entails the possibility of changing the active material in the detector, leading to increased radiation resistance. A first part of the thesis focuses on the work performed in terms of design and modelling studies of novel prototype devices, hinting to new possibilities and applications. In this framework, the simulations performed to validate selected designs and the main technological choices made in view of their fabrication are addressed. The second part of this thesis deals with the microfabrication of several prototype devices. Two different materials were studied for the manufacturing of microfluidic scintillation detectors, namely the SU-8 photosensitive epoxy and monocrystalline silicon. For what concerns the former, an original fabrication appro...

Scintillator material. Szintillatormaterial

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Siegmund, M; Bendig, J; Regenstein, W

1987-11-25

A scintillator material for detection and quantitative determination of ionizing radiation is discussed consisting of an acridone dissolved in a fluid or solid medium. Solvent mixtures with at least one protogenic component or polymers and copolymers are used. The scintillator material is distinguished by an excellent stability at high energy doses.

Westward equatorial electrojet during daytime hours. [relation to geomagnetic horizontal field depression

Science.gov (United States)

Rastogi, R. G.

1974-01-01

The phenomenon of the depression of the geomagnetic horizontal field during the daytime hours of magnetically quiet days at equatorial stations is described. These events are generally seen around 0700 and 1600 LT, being more frequent during the evening than the morning hours. The evening events are more frequent during periods of low solar activity and in the longitude region of weak equatorial electrojet currents. The latitudinal extent of the phenomenon is limited to the normal equatorial electrojet region, and on some occasions the phenomenon is not seen at both stations, separated by only a few hours in longitude. During such an event, the latitudinal profile of the geomagnetic vertical field across the equator is reversed, the ionospheric drift near the equator is reversed toward the east, the q type of sporadic E layer is completely absent, and the height of the peak ionization in the F2 region is decreased. It is suggested that these effects are caused by a narrow band of current flowing westward in the E region of the ionosphere and within the latitude region of the normal equatorial electrojet, due to the reversal of the east-west electrostatic field at low latitudes.

Neutrons detection by scintillation; Detection de neutrons par scintillations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Giraudon, J [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique, Saclay (France). Centre d' Etudes Nucleaires

1955-01-15

The absence of charge of neutrons and their elevated penetration power make difficult their detection. Techniques vary otherwise with the energy of the particle. The author proposes the realization of a scintillation detector with a big volume of liquid scintillator and containing boron for the detection of slowing-down neutrons in the domain of intermediate energies from 1 to 10{sup 5} eV about. (M.B.) [French] L'absence de charge du neutron et son pouvoir de penetration eleve rendent difficile sa detection. Les techniques par ailleurs varient avec l'energie de cette particule. L'auteur propose la realisation d'un detecteur a scintillations comprenant un grand volume de scintillateur liquide et contenant du bore pour la detection des neutrons en ralentissement dans le domaine des energies intermediaires de 1 a 10{sup 5} eV environ. (M.B.)

Equatorial Oscillation and Planetary Wave Activity in Saturn's Stratosphere Through the Cassini Epoch

Science.gov (United States)

Guerlet, S.; Fouchet, T.; Spiga, A.; Flasar, F. M.; Fletcher, L. N.; Hesman, B. E.; Gorius, N.

2018-01-01

Thermal infrared spectra acquired by Cassini/Composite InfraRed Spectrometer (CIRS) in limb-viewing geometry in 2015 are used to derive 2-D latitude-pressure temperature and thermal wind maps. These maps are used to study the vertical structure and evolution of Saturn's equatorial oscillation (SEO), a dynamical phenomenon presenting similarities with the Earth's quasi-biennal oscillation (QBO) and semi-annual oscillation (SAO). We report that a new local wind maximum has appeared in 2015 in the upper stratosphere and derive the descent rates of other wind extrema through time. The phase of the oscillation observed in 2015, as compared to 2005 and 2010, remains consistent with a ˜15 year period. The SEO does not propagate downward at a regular rate but exhibits faster descent rate in the upper stratosphere, combined with a greater vertical wind shear, compared to the lower stratosphere. Within the framework of a QBO-type oscillation, we estimate the absorbed wave momentum flux in the stratosphere to be on the order of ˜7 × 10-6 N m-2. On Earth, interactions between vertically propagating waves (both planetary and mesoscale) and the mean zonal flow drive the QBO and SAO. To broaden our knowledge on waves potentially driving Saturn's equatorial oscillation, we searched for thermal signatures of planetary waves in the tropical stratosphere using CIRS nadir spectra. Temperature anomalies of amplitude 1-4 K and zonal wave numbers 1 to 9 are frequently observed, and an equatorial Rossby (n = 1) wave of zonal wave number 3 is tentatively identified in November 2009.

Seasonal influence of ENSO on the Atlantic ITCZ and equatorial South America

Science.gov (United States)

Münnich, M.; Neelin, J. D.

2005-11-01

In late boreal spring, especially May, a strong relationship exists in observations among precipitation anomalies over equatorial South America and the Atlantic intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ), and eastern equatorial Pacific and central equatorial Atlantic sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTA). A chain of correlations of equatorial Pacific SSTA, western equatorial Atlantic wind stress (WEA), equatorial Atlantic SSTA, sea surface height, and precipitation supports a causal chain in which El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) induces WEA stress anomalies, which in turn affect Atlantic equatorial ocean dynamics. These correlations show strong seasonality, apparently arising within the atmospheric links of the chain. This pathway and the influence of equatorial Atlantic SSTA on South American rainfall in May appear independent of that of the northern tropical Atlantic. Brazil's Nordeste is affected by the northern tropical Atlantic. The equatorial influence lies further to the north over the eastern Amazon and the Guiana Highlands.

Research in high energy physics: Scintillating fiber detector development for the SSC: Annual progress report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ruchti, R.C.

1988-01-01

The scintillating fiber detector development program at the University of Notre Dame is divided into several components. These include: Research on scintillating glass fiber materials; Research on scintillating plastic fiber materials; Research on scintillating liquids in fiber capillaries; Studies of improvements in image intensification and light amplification of appropriate test and development facilities at Notre Dame. The overall goal of the program is to develop efficient scintillating fiber detectors with long, optical attenuation length, and excellent radiation resistance properties for tracking and microvertex detectors and as component active sampling materials for scintillation calorimetry. We now discuss each of these programs in turn. 2 figs., 3 tabs

The oil boom in Equatorial Guinea

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Frynas, J.G.

2004-01-01

In less than a decade, Equatorial Guinea has transformed itself from an African backwater into one of the world's fastest growing economies and a sought-after political partner in the Gulf of Guinea. The sole reason for this transformation has been the discovery of oil and gas. This article outlines the rise of Equatorial Guinea as one of Africa's leading oil-producing countries and investigates the political, economic and social effects of becoming a petro-state. The article is based on the author's field research in Equatorial Guinea in the autumn of 2003 and interviews with senior oil company staff, government officials and staff of international organizations as well as secondary sources. This research demonstrates how reliance on oil and gas exports can lead to profound changes in a country's political economy. (author)

Targeting Aurora B to the equatorial cortex by MKlp2 is required for cytokinesis.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mayumi Kitagawa

Full Text Available Although Aurora B is important in cleavage furrow ingression and completion during cytokinesis, the mechanism by which kinase activity is targeted to the cleavage furrow and the molecule(s responsible for this process have remained elusive. Here, we demonstrate that an essential mitotic kinesin MKlp2 requires myosin-II for its localization to the equatorial cortex, and this event is required to recruit Aurora B to the equatorial cortex in mammalian cells. This recruitment event is also required to promote the highly focused accumulation of active RhoA at the equatorial cortex and stable ingression of the cleavage furrow in bipolar cytokinesis. Specifically, in drug-induced monopolar cytokinesis, targeting Aurora B to the cell cortex by MKlp2 is essential for cell polarization and furrow formation. Once the furrow has formed, MKlp2 further recruits Aurora B to the growing furrow. This process together with continuous Aurora B kinase activity at the growing furrow is essential for stable furrow propagation and completion. In contrast, a MKlp2 mutant defective in binding myosin-II does not recruit Aurora B to the cell cortex and does not promote furrow formation during monopolar cytokinesis. This mutant is also defective in maintaining the ingressing furrow during bipolar cytokinesis. Together, these findings reveal that targeting Aurora B to the cell cortex (or the equatorial cortex by MKlp2 is essential for the maintenance of the ingressing furrow for successful cytokinesis.

Performance of a prototype active veto system using liquid scintillator for a dark matter search experiment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Park, J.S. [Center for Underground Physics, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Daejeon 34047 (Korea, Republic of); Adhikari, P.; Adhikari, G.; Oh, S.Y. [Department of Physics, Sejong University, Seoul 05006 (Korea, Republic of); Kim, N.Y. [Center for Underground Physics, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Daejeon 34047 (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Y.D. [Center for Underground Physics, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Daejeon 34047 (Korea, Republic of); Department of Physics, Sejong University, Seoul 05006 (Korea, Republic of); Ha, C.; Park, K.S. [Center for Underground Physics, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Daejeon 34047 (Korea, Republic of); Lee, H.S., E-mail: hyunsulee@ibs.re.kr [Center for Underground Physics, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Daejeon 34047 (Korea, Republic of); Jeon, E.J. [Center for Underground Physics, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Daejeon 34047 (Korea, Republic of)

2017-04-11

We report the performance of an active veto system using a liquid scintillator with NaI(Tl) crystals for use in a dark matter search experiment. When a NaI(Tl) crystal is immersed in the prototype detector, the detector tags 48% of the internal {sup 40}K background in the 0–10 keV energy region. We also determined the tagging efficiency for events at 6–20 keV as 26.5±1.7% of the total events, which corresponds to 0.76±0.04 events/keV/kg/day. According to a simulation, approximately 60% of the background events from U, Th, and K radioisotopes in photomultiplier tubes are tagged at energies of 0–10 keV. Full shielding with a 40-cm-thick liquid scintillator can increase the tagging efficiency for both the internal {sup 40}K and external background to approximately 80%.

Development and Studies of Novel Microfabricated Radiation Hard Scintillation Detectors With High Spatial Resolution

CERN Document Server

Mapelli, A; Haguenauer, M; Jiguet, S; Renaud, P; Vico Triviño, N

2011-01-01

A new type of scintillation detector is being developed with standard microfabrication techniques. It consists of a dense array of scintillating waveguides obtained by coupling microfluidic channels filled with a liquid scintillator to photodetectors. Easy manipulation of liquid scintillators inside microfluidic devices allow their flushing, renewal, and exchange making the active medium intrinsically radiation hard. Prototype detectors have been fabricated by photostructuration of a radiation hard epoxy resin (SU-8) deposited on silicon wafers and coupled to a multi-anode photomultiplier tube (MAPMT) to read-out the scintillation light. They have been characterized by exciting the liquid scintillator in the 200 micrometers thick microchannels with electrons from a 90Sr yielding approximately 1 photoelectron per impinging Minimum Ionizing Particle (MIP). These promising results demonstrate the concept of microfluidic scintillating detection and are very encouraging for future developments.

Applications of low level liquid scintillation counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Noakes, J.E.

1983-01-01

Low level liquid scintillation counting is reviewed in terms of its present use and capabilities for measuring low activity samples. New areas of application of the method are discussed with special interest directed to the food industry and environmental monitoring. Advantages offered in the use of a low background liquid scintillation counter for the nuclear power industry and nuclear navy are discussed. Attention is drawn to the need for commercial development of such instrumentation to enable wider use of the method. A user clientele is suggested as is the required technology to create such a counter

Activity measurements of radioactive solutions by liquid scintillation counting and pressurized ionization chambers and Monte Carlo simulations of source-detector systems for metrology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Amiot, Marie-Noelle

2013-01-01

The research works 'Activity measurements of radioactive solutions by liquid scintillation and pressurized ionization chambers and Monte Carlo simulations of source-detector systems' was presented for the graduation: 'Habilitation a diriger des recherches'. The common thread of both themes liquid scintillation counting and pressurized ionization chambers lies in the improvement of the techniques of radionuclide activity measurement. Metrology of ionization radiation intervenes in numerous domains, in the research, in the industry including the environment and the health, which are subjects of constant concern for the world population these last years. In this big variety of applications answers a large number of radionuclides of diverse disintegration scheme and under varied physical forms. The presented works realized within the National Laboratory Henri Becquerel have for objective to assure detector calibration traceability and to improve the methods of activity measurements within the framework of research projects and development. The improvement of the primary and secondary activity measurement methods consists in perfecting the accuracy of the measurements in particular by a better knowledge of the parameters influencing the detector yield. The works of development dealing with liquid scintillation counting concern mainly the study of the response of liquid scintillators to low energy electrons as well as their linear absorption coefficients using synchrotron radiation. The research works on pressurized ionization chambers consist of the study of their response to photons and electrons by experimental measurements compared to the simulation of the source-detector system using Monte Carlo codes. Besides, the design of a new type of ionization chamber with variable pressure is presented. This new project was developed to guarantee the precision of the amount of activity injected into the patient within the framework of diagnosis examination

Neutrons detection by scintillation; Detection de neutrons par scintillations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Giraudon, J. [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique, Saclay (France). Centre d' Etudes Nucleaires

1955-01-15

The absence of charge of neutrons and their elevated penetration power make difficult their detection. Techniques vary otherwise with the energy of the particle. The author proposes the realization of a scintillation detector with a big volume of liquid scintillator and containing boron for the detection of slowing-down neutrons in the domain of intermediate energies from 1 to 10{sup 5} eV about. (M.B.) [French] L'absence de charge du neutron et son pouvoir de penetration eleve rendent difficile sa detection. Les techniques par ailleurs varient avec l'energie de cette particule. L'auteur propose la realisation d'un detecteur a scintillations comprenant un grand volume de scintillateur liquide et contenant du bore pour la detection des neutrons en ralentissement dans le domaine des energies intermediaires de 1 a 10{sup 5} eV environ. (M.B.)

Liquid scintillation, counting, and compositions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sena, E.A.; Tolbert, B.M.; Sutula, C.L.

1975-01-01

The emissions of radioactive isotopes in both aqueous and organic samples can be measured by liquid scintillation counting in micellar systems. The micellar systems are made up of scintillation solvent, scintillation solute and a mixture of surfactants, preferably at least one of which is relatively oil-soluble water-insoluble and another which is relatively water-soluble oil-insoluble

The determination of the optimum counting conditions for a ZnS(Ag) scintillation detector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Djurasevic, M.M.; Kandic, A.B.; Novkovic, D.N; Vukanac, I.S. . E-mail address of corresponding author: mirad@vin.bg.ac.yu; Djurasevic, M.M.)

2005-01-01

The methods that use scintillation counting with ZnS(Ag) scintillation detector are widely used for gross alpha activity determination. The common criteria for the selection of optimum counting condition for a ZnS(Ag) scintillation detector do not consider simultaneously operating voltage and discrimination level variation. In presented method a relationship between voltage and discrimination level is derived for counting efficiency. (author)

Application of a free parameter model to plastic scintillation samples

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tarancon Sanz, Alex, E-mail: alex.tarancon@ub.edu [Departament de Quimica Analitica, Universitat de Barcelona, Diagonal 647, E-08028 Barcelona (Spain); Kossert, Karsten, E-mail: Karsten.Kossert@ptb.de [Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Bundesallee 100, 38116 Braunschweig (Germany)

2011-08-21

In liquid scintillation (LS) counting, the CIEMAT/NIST efficiency tracing method and the triple-to-double coincidence ratio (TDCR) method have proved their worth for reliable activity measurements of a number of radionuclides. In this paper, an extended approach to apply a free-parameter model to samples containing a mixture of solid plastic scintillation microspheres and radioactive aqueous solutions is presented. Several beta-emitting radionuclides were measured in a TDCR system at PTB. For the application of the free parameter model, the energy loss in the aqueous phase must be taken into account, since this portion of the particle energy does not contribute to the creation of scintillation light. The energy deposit in the aqueous phase is determined by means of Monte Carlo calculations applying the PENELOPE software package. To this end, great efforts were made to model the geometry of the samples. Finally, a new geometry parameter was defined, which was determined by means of a tracer radionuclide with known activity. This makes the analysis of experimental TDCR data of other radionuclides possible. The deviations between the determined activity concentrations and reference values were found to be lower than 3%. The outcome of this research work is also important for a better understanding of liquid scintillation counting. In particular the influence of (inverse) micelles, i.e. the aqueous spaces embedded in the organic scintillation cocktail, can be investigated. The new approach makes clear that it is important to take the energy loss in the aqueous phase into account. In particular for radionuclides emitting low-energy electrons (e.g. M-Auger electrons from {sup 125}I), this effect can be very important.

Geomagnetic storms and electric fields in the equatorial ionosphere

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rastogi, R.G.

1977-01-01

Using direct measurements of equatorial electric field during a geomagnetic storm it is shown that the large decrease in the field observed near the dip equator is due to the reversal of the equatorial electrojet current. This is caused by the imposition of an additional westward electric field on the equatorial ionosphere which was originated by the interaction of solar wind with the interplanetary magnetic field. (author)

Sub-nanosecond plastic scintillators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lyons, P.B.; Caldwell, S.E.; Hocker, L.P.; Crandall, D.G.; Zagarino, P.A.; Cheng, J.; Tirsell, G.; Hurlbut, C.R.

1977-01-01

Quenched plastic scintillators have been developed that yield much faster short decay components and greatly reduced long decay components compared to conventional plastic scintillators. The plastics are produced through the addition of selected quench agents to NE111 plastic scintillator that result in reduced total light output. Eight different agents have been studied. Benzophenone and piperidine are two of the most effective quench agents. Data are presented both for short and long decay components. The plastics are expected to make significant contributions in areas of plasma diagnostics

Sub-nanosecond plastic scintillators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lyons, P.B.; Caldwell, S.E.; Hocker, L.P.; Crandall, D.G.; Zagarino, P.A.; Cheng, J.; Tirsell, G.; Hurlbut, C.R.

1976-01-01

Quenched plastic scintillators have been developed that yield much faster short decay components and greatly reduced long decay components compared to conventional plastic scintillators. The plastics are produced through the addition of selected quench agents to NE111 plastic scintillator that result in reduced total light output. Eight different agents have been studied. Benzophenone and piperidine are two of the most effective quench agents. Data are presented both for short and long decay components. The plastics are expected to make significant contributions in areas of plasma diagnostics

Detector of reactor antineutrinos with plastic scintillation bars

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Georgadze, A.Sh.; Pavlovich, V.M.

2015-01-01

Project of a segmented antineutrino detector is developed with the use of plastic scintillator rectangular bars 10 x 10 x 100 cm, wrapped in Gd foils and assembled to an array of 1 m3 active volume. The scintillation array is sandwiched at both sides by the continuous light guides of 100 x 100 x 10 cm size, from which the scintillation light is spreading simultaneously through continuous light guides between all photomultipliers, forming the specific Light Response Function (LRF), which is character to a certain nuclear event in detector. Analysis of LRF allows one effectively reject background events, providing high efficiency detection of antineutrino capture in the detector. Monte Carlo simulations with the help of MCNP and ZEMAX software show that with the use of selection criteria the neutrino events are well separated from the background

Barium iodide and strontium iodide crystals and scintillators implementing the same

Science.gov (United States)

Payne, Stephen A.; Cherepy, Nerine; Pedrini, Christian; Burger, Arnold

2016-09-13

In one embodiment, a crystal includes at least one metal halide; and an activator dopant comprising ytterbium. In another general embodiment, a scintillator optic includes: at least one metal halide doped with a plurality of activators, the plurality of activators comprising: a first activator comprising europium, and a second activator comprising ytterbium. In yet another general embodiment, a method for manufacturing a crystal suitable for use in a scintillator includes mixing one or more salts with a source of at least one dopant activator comprising ytterbium; heating the mixture above a melting point of the salt(s); and cooling the heated mixture to a temperature below the melting point of the salts. Additional materials, systems, and methods are presented.

Long wavelength scintillators for fiber-optic applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lyons, P.B.; Franks, L.; Lutz, S.; Flournoy, J.; Fullman, E.

1980-01-01

The use of fiber optics in plasma diagnostics has spurred the development of long wavelength scintillators with fast temporal characteristics. In this paper we describe several new liquid scintillator systems with fluorescent emissions maxima up to 730 nm. Subnanosecond scintillator FWHM response times have been obtained by the operation of liquid scintillators at elevated temperatures. Data on fiber system sensitivity versus fiber length and scintillator emission wavelength will be presented

High Efficiency, Low Cost Scintillators for PET

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kanai Shah

2007-01-01

Inorganic scintillation detectors coupled to PMTs are an important element of medical imaging applications such as positron emission tomography (PET). Performance as well as cost of these systems is limited by the properties of the scintillation detectors available at present. The Phase I project was aimed at demonstrating the feasibility of producing high performance scintillators using a low cost fabrication approach. Samples of these scintillators were produced and their performance was evaluated. Overall, the Phase I effort was very successful. The Phase II project will be aimed at advancing the new scintillation technology for PET. Large samples of the new scintillators will be produced and their performance will be evaluated. PET modules based on the new scintillators will also be built and characterized

The quest for the ideal inorganic scintillator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Derenzo, S.E.; Weber, M.J.; Bourret-Courchesne, E.; Klintenberg, M.K.

2002-01-01

The past half century has witnessed the discovery of many new inorganic scintillator materials and numerous advances in our understanding of the basic physical processes governing the transformation of ionizing radiation into scintillation light. Whereas scintillators are available with a good combination of physical properties, none provides the desired combination of stopping power, light output, and decay time. A review of the numerous scintillation mechanisms of known inorganic scintillators reveals why none of them is both bright and fast. The mechanisms of radiative recombination in wide-bandgap direct semiconductors, however, remain relatively unexploited for scintillators. We describe how suitably doped semiconductor scintillators could provide a combination of high light output, short decay time, and linearity of response that approach fundamental limits

Development of a reference liquid scintillation cocktail

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Van Wyn Gaardt, WM

2006-02-01

Full Text Available A reference system that would allow national laboratories to compare their activity measurements of non-gamma-emitting radionuclides at any time is currently being developed. The system requires a non-commercial reference-liquid scintillation...

Ongoing Analysis of Jupiter's Equatorial Hotspots and Plumes from Cassini

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, D. S.; Showmwn, A. P.; Vasavada, A. R.; Simon-Miller, A. A.

2012-01-01

We present updated results from our ongoing analysis of Cassini observations of Jupiter's equatorial meteorology. For two months preceding the spacecraft's closest approach of the planet, the ISS instrument onboard Cassini regularly imaged the atmosphere of Jupiter. We created time-lapse movies from this period that show the complex activity and interactions of the equatorial atmosphere. During this period, hot spots exhibited significant variations in size and shape over timescales of days and weeks. Some of these changes appear to be a result of interactions with passing vortex systems in adjacent latitudes. Strong anticyclonic gyres to the southeast of the dark areas converge with flow from the west and appear to circulate into a hot spot at its southwestern corner.

Synthesis of crystalline Ce-activated garnet phosphor powders and technique to characterize their scintillation light yield

Science.gov (United States)

Gordienko, E.; Fedorov, A.; Radiuk, E.; Mechinsky, V.; Dosovitskiy, G.; Vashchenkova, E.; Kuznetsova, D.; Retivov, V.; Dosovitskiy, A.; Korjik, M.; Sandu, R.

2018-04-01

This work reports on a process of preparation of garnet phosphor powders and a technique for light yield evaluation of strongly light scattering samples. Powders of scintillation compounds could be used as individual materials or as samples for express tests of scintillation properties. However, estimation of their light yield (LY) is complicated by strong light scattering of this kind of materials. Ce3+-activated yttrium-aluminum and gallium-gadolinium-aluminum garnet phosphor powders, Y3Al5O12 (YAG:Ce) and Gd3Ga3Al2O12 (GGAG:Ce), were obtained using a modified coprecipitation technique. Ga tends to residue in mother liquor in ammonia media, but the modification allows to avoid the loss of components. We propose an approach for sample preparation and LY measurement setup with alpha particles excitation, allowing to decrease light scattering influence and to estimate a light yield of powder samples. This approach is used to evaluate the obtained powders.

Midday reversal of equatorial ionospheric electric field

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. G. Rastogi

1997-10-01

Full Text Available A comparative study of the geomagnetic and ionospheric data at equatorial and low-latitude stations in India over the 20 year period 1956–1975 is described. The reversal of the electric field in the ionosphere over the magnetic equator during the midday hours indicated by the disappearance of the equatorial sporadic E region echoes on the ionograms is a rare phenomenon occurring on about 1% of time. Most of these events are associated with geomagnetically active periods. By comparing the simultaneous geomagnetic H field at Kodaikanal and at Alibag during the geomagnetic storms it is shown that ring current decreases are observed at both stations. However, an additional westward electric field is superimposed in the ionosphere during the main phase of the storm which can be strong enough to temporarily reverse the normally eastward electric field in the dayside ionosphere. It is suggested that these electric fields associated with the V×Bz electric fields originate at the magnetopause due to the interaction of the solar wind and the interplanetary magnetic field.

Midday reversal of equatorial ionospheric electric field

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. G. Rastogi

Full Text Available A comparative study of the geomagnetic and ionospheric data at equatorial and low-latitude stations in India over the 20 year period 1956–1975 is described. The reversal of the electric field in the ionosphere over the magnetic equator during the midday hours indicated by the disappearance of the equatorial sporadic E region echoes on the ionograms is a rare phenomenon occurring on about 1% of time. Most of these events are associated with geomagnetically active periods. By comparing the simultaneous geomagnetic H field at Kodaikanal and at Alibag during the geomagnetic storms it is shown that ring current decreases are observed at both stations. However, an additional westward electric field is superimposed in the ionosphere during the main phase of the storm which can be strong enough to temporarily reverse the normally eastward electric field in the dayside ionosphere. It is suggested that these electric fields associated with the V×Bz electric fields originate at the magnetopause due to the interaction of the solar wind and the interplanetary magnetic field.

Multi element high resolution scintillator structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cusano, D.A.

1980-01-01

A gamma camera scintillator structure, suitable for detecting high energy gamma photons which, in a single scintillator camera, would require a comparatively thick scintillator crystal, so resulting in unacceptable dispersion of light photons, comprises a collimator array of a high Z material with elongated, parallel wall channels with the scintillator material being disposed in one end of the channels so as to form an integrated collimator/scintillator structure. The collimator channel walls are preferably coated with light reflective material and further light reflective surfaces being translucent to gamma photons, may be provided in each channel. The scintillators may be single crystals or preferably comprise a phosphor dispersed in a thermosetting translucent matrix as disclosed in GB2012800A. The light detectors of the assembled camera may be photomultiplier tubes charge coupled devices or charge injection devices. (author)

Extruded plastic scintillator for MINERvA

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pla-Dalmau, Anna; Bross, Alan D.; FermilabRykalin, Victor V.; Wood, Brian M.; NICADD, DeKalb

2005-01-01

An extrusion line has recently been installed at Fermilab in collaboration with NICADD (Northern Illinois Center for Accelerator and Detector Development). This new facility will serve to further develop and improve extruded plastic scintillator. Since polystyrene is widely used in the consumer industry, the logical path was to investigate the extrusion of commercial-grade polystyrene pellets with dopants to yield high quality plastic scintillator. The D0 and MINOS experiments are already using extruded scintillator strips in their detectors. A new experiment at Fermilab is pursuing the use of extruded plastic scintillator. A new plastic scintillator strip is being tested and its properties characterized. The initial results are presented here

Real-time volumetric scintillation dosimetry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beddar, S

2015-01-01

The goal of this brief review is to review the current status of real-time 3D scintillation dosimetry and what has been done so far in this area. The basic concept is to use a large volume of a scintillator material (liquid or solid) to measure or image the dose distributions from external radiation therapy (RT) beams in three dimensions. In this configuration, the scintillator material fulfills the dual role of being the detector and the phantom material in which the measurements are being performed. In this case, dose perturbations caused by the introduction of a detector within a phantom will not be at issue. All the detector configurations that have been conceived to date used a Charge-Coupled Device (CCD) camera to measure the light produced within the scintillator. In order to accurately measure the scintillation light, one must correct for various optical artefacts that arise as the light propagates from the scintillating centers through the optical chain to the CCD chip. Quenching, defined in its simplest form as a nonlinear response to high-linear energy transfer (LET) charged particles, is one of the disadvantages when such systems are used to measure the absorbed dose from high-LET particles such protons. However, correction methods that restore the linear dose response through the whole proton range have been proven to be effective for both liquid and plastic scintillators. Volumetric scintillation dosimetry has the potential to provide fast, high-resolution and accurate 3D imaging of RT dose distributions. Further research is warranted to optimize the necessary image reconstruction methods and optical corrections needed to achieve its full potential

Performance study of Philips digital silicon photomultiplier coupled to scintillating crystals

CERN Document Server

Liu, Z.; Auffray, E.; Lecoq, P.; Paganoni, M.

2016-01-01

Silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) and scintillators are often arranged in the shape of arrays in Positron Emission Tomography (PET) systems. Digital SiPMs provide signal readout in single photon avalanche diode (SPAD) level. From the photon count rate measurement of each SPAD cell of digital SiPM, we found that the output scintillating photons distribute in an area larger than the scintillator physical coupling area. Taking advantage of the possibility to enable/disable individual cells of the digital SiPM, a group of Lutetium-yttrium oxyorthosilicate (LYSO) crystals with different dimensions coupled to a digital SiPM was used to study the influence of using different SiPM active area on the number of photons detected, energy resolution and coincidence time resolution (CTR). For the same crystal coupled to the digital SiPM, the larger the active area of digital SiPM, the higher the number of photons detected. The larger active area of the digital SiPM also results in a better energy resolution after saturation...

Short-term magnetic field alignment variations of equatorial ionospheric irregularities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Johnson, A.L.

1988-01-01

The ionospheric irregularities that cause equatorial scintillation are elongated along the north-south magnetic field lines. During a 1981 field campaign at Ascension Island, 250-MHz receivers were spaced from 300 m to 1.6 km along the field lines, and the signals received from the Marisat satellite were cross correlated. Data collected during eight nights of fading showed a linear relationship between fading rate and cross correlation. The alignment of the antennas was adjusted to give a zero time lag between the widely spaced receivers with a measurement accuracy of 0.03 s. Since the average irregularity velocity was 125 m/s, this time accuracy translated to an angular measurement accuracy of 0.1 deg. During a 4-hour period of nightly fading, occasional differences in time of arrival were noted that corresponded to a tilt in the north-south alignment of + or - 1 deg. Data from several nights of fading were analyzed, and each night exhibited the same variance in the north-south irregularity alignment. It is postulated that the shift in the measured peak correlation may have been caused by patches of irregularities at different altitudes where the magnetic field lines have a slightly different direction. 13 references

Neutron crosstalk between liquid scintillators

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Verbeke, J.M., E-mail: verbeke2@llnl.gov; Prasad, M.K., E-mail: prasad1@llnl.gov; Snyderman, N.J., E-mail: snyderman1@llnl.gov

2015-09-11

A method is proposed to quantify the fractions of neutrons scattering between liquid scintillators. Using a spontaneous fission source, this method can be utilized to quickly characterize an array of liquid scintillators in terms of crosstalk. The point model theory due to Feynman is corrected to account for these multiple scatterings. Using spectral information measured by the liquid scintillators, fractions of multiple scattering can be estimated, and mass reconstruction of fissile materials under investigation can be improved. Monte Carlo simulations of mono-energetic neutron sources were performed to estimate neutron crosstalk. A californium source in an array of liquid scintillators was modeled to illustrate the improvement of the mass reconstruction.

Neutron crosstalk between liquid scintillators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Verbeke, J.M.; Prasad, M.K.; Snyderman, N.J.

2015-01-01

A method is proposed to quantify the fractions of neutrons scattering between liquid scintillators. Using a spontaneous fission source, this method can be utilized to quickly characterize an array of liquid scintillators in terms of crosstalk. The point model theory due to Feynman is corrected to account for these multiple scatterings. Using spectral information measured by the liquid scintillators, fractions of multiple scattering can be estimated, and mass reconstruction of fissile materials under investigation can be improved. Monte Carlo simulations of mono-energetic neutron sources were performed to estimate neutron crosstalk. A californium source in an array of liquid scintillators was modeled to illustrate the improvement of the mass reconstruction

High-symmetry organic scintillator systems

Science.gov (United States)

Feng, Patrick L.

2017-07-18

An ionizing radiation detector or scintillator system includes a scintillating material comprising an organic crystalline compound selected to generate photons in response to the passage of ionizing radiation. The organic compound has a crystalline symmetry of higher order than monoclinic, for example an orthorhombic, trigonal, tetragonal, hexagonal, or cubic symmetry. A photodetector is optically coupled to the scintillating material, and configured to generate electronic signals having pulse shapes based on the photons generated in the scintillating material. A discriminator is coupled to the photon detector, and configured to discriminate between neutrons and gamma rays in the ionizing radiation based on the pulse shapes of the output signals.

Temperature dependence of plastic scintillators

Science.gov (United States)

Peralta, L.

2018-03-01

Plastic scintillator detectors have been studied as dosimeters, since they provide a cost-effective alternative to conventional ionization chambers. Several articles have reported undesired response dependencies on beam energy and temperature, which provides the motivation to determine appropriate correction factors. In this work, we studied the light yield temperature dependency of four plastic scintillators, BCF-10, BCF-60, BC-404, RP-200A and two clear fibers, BCF-98 and SK-80. Measurements were made using a 50 kVp X-ray beam to produce the scintillation and/or radioluminescence signal. The 0 to 40 °C temperature range was scanned for each scintillator, and temperature coefficients were obtained.

High-symmetry organic scintillator systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Feng, Patrick L.

2018-03-13

An ionizing radiation detector or scintillator system includes a scintillating material comprising an organic crystalline compound selected to generate photons in response to the passage of ionizing radiation. The organic compound has a crystalline symmetry of higher order than monoclinic, for example an orthorhombic, trigonal, tetragonal, hexagonal, or cubic symmetry. A photodetector is optically coupled to the scintillating material, and configured to generate electronic signals having pulse shapes based on the photons generated in the scintillating material. A discriminator is coupled to the photon detector, and configured to discriminate between neutrons and gamma rays in the ionizing radiation based on the pulse shapes of the output signals.

High-symmetry organic scintillator systems

Science.gov (United States)

Feng, Patrick L.

2018-02-06

An ionizing radiation detector or scintillator system includes a scintillating material comprising an organic crystalline compound selected to generate photons in response to the passage of ionizing radiation. The organic compound has a crystalline symmetry of higher order than monoclinic, for example an orthorhombic, trigonal, tetragonal, hexagonal, or cubic symmetry. A photodetector is optically coupled to the scintillating material, and configured to generate electronic signals having pulse shapes based on the photons generated in the scintillating material. A discriminator is coupled to the photon detector, and configured to discriminate between neutrons and gamma rays in the ionizing radiation based on the pulse shapes of the output signals.

Lithium indium diselenide: A new scintillator for neutron imaging

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lukosi, Eric, E-mail: elukosi@utk.edu [University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States); Herrera, Elan; Hamm, Daniel; Lee, Kyung-Min [University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States); Wiggins, Brenden [Y-12 National Security Complex, Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Trtik, Pavel [Paul Scherrer Institut, Villigen CH-5232 (Switzerland); Penumadu, Dayakar; Young, Stephen [University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States); Santodonato, Louis; Bilheux, Hassina [Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Burger, Arnold; Matei, Liviu [Fisk University, Nashville, TN (United States); Stowe, Ashley C. [University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States); Y-12 National Security Complex, Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

2016-09-11

Lithium indium diselenide, {sup 6}LiInSe{sub 2} or LISe, is a newly developed neutron detection material that shows both semiconducting and scintillating properties. This paper reports on the performance of scintillating LISe crystals for its potential use as a converter screen for cold neutron imaging. The spatial resolution of LISe, determined using a 10% threshold of the Modulation Transfer Function (MTF), was found to not scale linearly with thickness. Crystals having a thickness of 450 µm or larger resulted in an average spatial resolution of 67 µm, and the thinner crystals exhibited an increase in spatial resolution down to the Nyquist frequency of the CCD. The highest measured spatial resolution of 198 µm thick LISe (27 µm) outperforms a commercial 50 µm thick ZnS(Cu):{sup 6}LiF scintillation screen by more than a factor of three. For the LISe dimensions considered in this study, it was found that the light yield of LISe did not scale with its thickness. However, absorption measurements indicate that the {sup 6}Li concentration is uniform and the neutron absorption efficiency of LISe as a function of thickness follows general nuclear theory. This suggests that the differences in apparent brightness observed for the LISe samples investigated may be due to a combination of secondary charged particle escape, scintillation light transport in the bulk and across the LISe-air interface, and variations in the activation of the scintillation mechanism. Finally, it was found that the presence of {sup 115}In and its long-lived {sup 116}In activation product did not result in ghosting (memory of past neutron exposure), demonstrating potential of LISe for imaging transient systems.

Disruption of Saturn's quasi-periodic equatorial oscillation by the great northern storm

Science.gov (United States)

Fletcher, Leigh N.; Guerlet, Sandrine; Orton, Glenn S.; Cosentino, Richard G.; Fouchet, Thierry; Irwin, Patrick G. J.; Li, Liming; Flasar, F. Michael; Gorius, Nicolas; Morales-Juberías, Raúl

2017-11-01

The equatorial middle atmospheres of the Earth1, Jupiter2 and Saturn3,4 all exhibit a remarkably similar phenomenon—a vertical, cyclic pattern of alternating temperatures and zonal (east-west) wind regimes that propagate slowly downwards with a well-defined multi-year period. Earth's quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) (observed in the lower stratospheric winds with an average period of 28 months) is one of the most regular, repeatable cycles exhibited by our climate system1,5,6, and yet recent work has shown that this regularity can be disrupted by events occurring far away from the equatorial region, an example of a phenomenon known as atmospheric teleconnection7,8. Here, we reveal that Saturn's equatorial quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) (with an 15-year period3,9) can also be dramatically perturbed. An intense springtime storm erupted at Saturn's northern mid-latitudes in December 201010-12, spawning a gigantic hot vortex in the stratosphere at 40° N that persisted for three years13. Far from the storm, the Cassini temperature measurements showed a dramatic 10 K cooling in the 0.5-5 mbar range across the entire equatorial region, disrupting the regular QPO pattern and significantly altering the middle-atmospheric wind structure, suggesting an injection of westward momentum into the equatorial wind system from waves generated by the northern storm. Hence, as on Earth, meteorological activity at mid-latitudes can have a profound effect on the regular atmospheric cycles in Saturn's tropics, demonstrating that waves can provide horizontal teleconnections between the phenomena shaping the middle atmospheres of giant planets.

Isolation and activity determination of 99Tc in nuclear waste by liquid scintillation counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reis Junior, Aluisio S.; Temba, Eliane S.C.; Kastner, Geraldo F.; Monteiro, Roberto P.G.

2011-01-01

A radiochemical separation and purification for technetium was proposed for radioactive waste in which rhenium is to be used as a yield monitor. The separation was performed by anion exchange chromatography and the purification was performed by extraction chromatography using a TEVA resin.The determination of 99 Tc was by liquid scintillation counting and rhenium was activated by Triga Mark 1 research reactor and measured by gamma spectrometry. Some real samples of nuclear waste such as evaporator concentrate and filter were analysed. The chemical recovery determined using rhenium as tracer was around 90 %. (author)

Method for determination of radon-222 in water by liquid scintillation counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suomela, J.

1993-06-01

The procedure for the determination of radon-222 by liquid scintillation counting is quite specific for this radionuclide. Radon-222 is extracted readily from the water sample by an organic scintillant. The decay products of radon-222 will remain in the water phase whilst radon-222 will be extracted into the organic phase. Before measurement the sample is stored for three hours until equilibrium is reached between radon-222 and its alpha emitting decay products. The alpha activity from radon-222 and its decay products is measured in a liquid scintillation counter

High-efficiency organic glass scintillators

Science.gov (United States)

Feng, Patrick L.; Carlson, Joseph S.

2017-12-19

A new family of neutron/gamma discriminating scintillators is disclosed that comprises stable organic glasses that may be melt-cast into transparent monoliths. These materials have been shown to provide light yields greater than solution-grown trans-stilbene crystals and efficient PSD capabilities when combined with 0.01 to 0.05% by weight of the total composition of a wavelength-shifting fluorophore. Photoluminescence measurements reveal fluorescence quantum yields that are 2 to 5 times greater than conventional plastic or liquid scintillator matrices, which accounts for the superior light yield of these glasses. The unique combination of high scintillation light-yields, efficient neutron/gamma PSD, and straightforward scale-up via melt-casting distinguishes the developed organic glasses from existing scintillators.

Distributions of TEC Fluctuations and Losses of Lock Associated with Equatorial Plasma Bubbles

Science.gov (United States)

Nakata, H.; Kikuchi, H.; Tsugawa, T.; Otsuka, Y.; Takano, T.; Shimakura, S.; Shiokawa, K.; Ogawa, T.

2009-12-01

Equatorial plasma bubbles (EPBs) are local depletions of the electron density in the ionosphere. Due to field-aligned irregularities (FAIs) with various spatial scales, EPBs affect wide-band radio waves and cause scintillations in GPS navigation system. Strong scintillation can cause a GPS receiver to lose lock on GPS signals because of rapid variations of signal amplitude and phase, and limit the availability of carrier phase measurements. Since the scintillation is caused by Fresnel diffraction, the spatial scale of FAIs that causes the scintillation of GPS signals is about 2-300 m. Therefore, loss of phase lock (LOL) on GPS signals is a reference of hundred-meter-scale FAIs. As EPBs are also associated with fluctuations of the total electron content (TEC), the enhancement of Rate of TEC change index (ROTI) occurs around EPBs. Assuming that the altitude of the ionosphere is about 400 km, the velocity of the pierce point of the GPS radio wave at the ionospheric altitude is approximately 70 m/s around the zenith. Thus, ROTI averaged during 5 minutes is a reference of ten-kilometer-scale fluctuations. In this study, we analyzed LOL and 5-min. ROTI associated with EPBs to examine the spatial and temporal scales of electron density disturbances associated with EPBs. We selected 11 EPBs from 630-nm airglow images obtained by all-sky imager at Sata, Japan, in 2001. LOL and ROTI are obtained from GPS data from GPS Earth Observation Network (GEONET) of Japan, which consists of more than 1000 GPS receivers. As a result, it is shown that both LOL and the enhancement of ROTI are observed in 8 events out of 11 events. The distributions of LOL are approximately consistent with the areas in which the ionospheric electron density is depleted. The enhancements of ROTI are observed in the vicinities of EPBs. The enhancement of ROTI expands especially in the west side of EPBs. After the EPBs pass through, therefore, LOLs are vanished but the enhancements of ROTI last a while. This

Lower bounds on scintillation detector timing performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Clinthorne, N.H.; Rogers, W.L.; Hero, A.O. III.; Petrick, N.A.

1990-01-01

Fundamental method-independent limits on the timing performance of scintillation detectors are useful for identifying regimes in which either present timing methods are nearly optimal or where a considerable performance gain might be realized using better pulse processing techniques. Several types of lower bounds on mean-squared timing error (MSE) performance have been developed and applied to scintillation detectors. The simple Cramer-Rao (CR) bound can be useful in determining the limiting MSE for scintillators having a relatively high rate of photon problction such as BaF 2 and NaI(Tl); however, it tends to overestimate the achievalbe performance for scintillators with lower rates such as BGO. For this reason, alternative bounds have been developed using rate-distortion theory or by assuming that the conversion of energy to scintillation light must pass through excited states which have exponential lifetime densities. The bounds are functions of the mean scintillation pulse shape, the scintillation intensity, and photodetector characteristics; they are simple to evaluate and can be used to conveniently assess the limiting timing performance of scintillation detectors. (orig.)

Relation of decorrelated transionospheric GPS signal fluctuations from two stations in the northern anomaly crest region with equatorial ionospheric dynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Paul, K. S.; Paul, A.

2017-05-01

The ionosphere around the northern crest of the equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA) and beyond exhibits rapid temporal as well as spatial development of ionization density irregularities during postsunset hours. A GPS campaign was conducted during September 2012 and April 2013 from the Institute of Radio Physics and Electronics, Calcutta (22.58°N, 88.38°E geographic; magnetic dip: 32°N), and North Bengal University (NBU), Siliguri (26.72°N, 88.39°E geographic, magnetic dip: 39.49°N) in India in order to assess and quantify differences, if any, in the nature of carrier to noise ratio (C/N0) fluctuations observed on the same satellite link around the same time interval from these stations. Significant decorrelation of the received signals was found when tracking the same satellite vehicle (SV) link from these stations during periods of scintillations. Low values of correlation coefficient of C/N0 at L1 frequency recorded on the same SV link at these two stations were found to correspond with high irregularity characteristic velocities. North-south spatial displacement rates of the impact of ionospheric irregularities were calculated based on coordinated GPS observations which followed an increasing trend with irregularity characteristic velocities measured at VHF. Values of characteristic velocities in excess of 36 m/s were also found to result in large receiver position deviations 3.5-4.0 m during periods of scintillations. Information related to time lag associated with occurrence of scintillations on the same SV link observed from two stations could be useful for improving performance of transionospheric satellite-based position determination techniques.

Designing an optimally proportional inorganic scintillator

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Singh, Jai, E-mail: jai.singh@cdu.edu.au [School of Engineering and IT, B-Purple-12, Faculty of EHSE, Charles Darwin University, NT 0909 (Australia); Koblov, Alexander [School of Engineering and IT, B-Purple-12, Faculty of EHSE, Charles Darwin University, NT 0909 (Australia)

2012-09-01

The nonproportionality observed in the light yield of inorganic scintillators is studied theoretically as a function of the rates of bimolecular and Auger quenching processes occurring within the electron track initiated by a gamma- or X-ray photon incident on a scintillator. Assuming a cylindrical track, the influence of the track radius and concentration of excitations created within the track on the scintillator light yield is also studied. Analysing the calculated light yield a guideline for inventing an optimally proportional scintillator with optimal energy resolution is presented.

Designing an optimally proportional inorganic scintillator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Singh, Jai; Koblov, Alexander

2012-01-01

The nonproportionality observed in the light yield of inorganic scintillators is studied theoretically as a function of the rates of bimolecular and Auger quenching processes occurring within the electron track initiated by a gamma- or X-ray photon incident on a scintillator. Assuming a cylindrical track, the influence of the track radius and concentration of excitations created within the track on the scintillator light yield is also studied. Analysing the calculated light yield a guideline for inventing an optimally proportional scintillator with optimal energy resolution is presented.

Random wave fields and scintillated beams

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Roux, FS

2009-01-01

Full Text Available F. Stef Roux CSIR National Laser Centre PO Box 395, Pretoria 0001, South Africa CSIR National Laser Centre – p.1/29 Contents . Scintillated beams and adaptive optics . Detecting a vortex — Shack-Hartmann . Remove optical vortices . Random vortex... beam. CSIR National Laser Centre – p.3/29 Weak scintillation If the scintillation is weak the resulting phase function of the optical beam is still continuous. Such a weakly scintillated beam can be corrected by an adaptive optical system. CSIR National...

Detector construction for a scintillation camera

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ashe, J.B.

1977-01-01

An improved transducer construction for a scintillation camera in which a light conducting element is equipped with a layer of moisture impervious material is described. A scintillation crystal is thereafter positioned in optical communication with the moisture impervious layer and the remaining surfaces of the scintillation crystal are encompassed by a moisture shield. Affixing the moisture impervious layer to the light conducting element prior to attachment of the scintillation crystal reduces the requirement for mechanical strength in the moisture impervious layer and thereby allows a layer of reduced thickness to be utilized. Preferably, photodetectors are also positioned in optical communication with the light conducting element prior to positioning the scintillation crystal in contact with the impervious layer. 13 claims, 4 figures

Plastic scintillators utilization in position sensitive detection systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Garcia, Marcelo Bernardes; Soares, Adalberto Jose; Baptista Filho, Benedito Dias

2002-01-01

This paper shows the viability of using a plastic scintillator detector to determine the one dimension position of a radioactive source. The experiments were performed using collimated 99m Tc sources of several activities supplied by the Centro de Radiofarmacia (from IPEN), and a 15 cm long plastic scintillator with diameter 5,08 cm, produced by the Centro de Tecnologia das Radiacoes (also from IPEN). The spectrum was obtained using the Genie 2000 software, and the results processed using a neural network specially developed for the proposed application. The final results demonstrate the viability of the proposed application. (author)

Scintillating-fibre calorimetry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Livan, M.; Vercesi, V.; Wigmans, R.

1995-01-01

In the past decade, calorimetry based on scintillating plastic fibres as active elements was developed from a conceptual idea to a mature detector technology, which is nowadays widely applied in particle physics experiments. This development and the performance characteristics of representative calorimeters, both for the detection of electromagnetic and hadronic showers, are reviewed. We also discuss new information on shower development processes in dense matter and its application to calorimetric principles that has emerged from some very thorough studies that were performed in the framework of this development. (orig.)

A new plastic scintillator with large Stokes shift

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Destruel, P.; Taufer, M.

1989-01-01

We have developed a new plastic scintillator with the novel characteristic of highly localized light emission; scintillation and wavelength shifting take place within a few tens of micrometers of the primary ionization. The new scintillator consists of a scintillating polymer base [polyvinyl toluene (PVT) or polystyrene (PS)] doped with a single wavelength shifter, 1-phenyl-3-mesityl-2-pyrazoline (PMP), which has an exceptionally large Stokes shift and therefore a comparatively small self-absorption of its emitted light. In other characteristics (e.g. scintillation efficiency and decay time) the performance of the new scintillator is similar to a good quality commercial plastic scintillator such as NE110. (orig.)

Further understanding of PbWO4 Scintillator characteristics and their optimisation. LUMEN activity in 1998

CERN Document Server

Baccaro, Stefania; Borgia, Bruno; Cecilia, Angelica; Dafinei, Ioan; Diemoz, Marcella; Fabeni, P; Festinesi, Armando; Longo, Egidio; Martini, M; Meinardi, F; Mihoková, E; Montecchi, Marco; Nikl, M; Pazzi, G P; Rosa, J; Sulc, Miroslav

2000-01-01

The aim of LUMEN collaboration was the investigation on single crystals of PbWO4 ( PWO): the results performed up to now provide the evidence of the possibility to optimise the optical properties of an intrinsic scintillator such as PWO. The control of essential requirements in the crystal preparation ( raw material purity, growing methods and post-growth annealing) as well as the introduction of selected dopants at suitable concentrations ( particularly trivalent and pentavalent ions) were found to be very successful in lowering the concentration of point defects in the lattice which strongly affect scintillation properties and radiation hardness. The systematic investigation effort to better understand the scintillation characteristics and to improve the quality of PWO crystals is due to their use for the CMS electromagnetic calorimeter.

An innovative scintillation process for correcting, cooling, and reducing the randomness of waveforms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shen, J.

1991-01-01

Research activities were concentrated on an innovative scintillation technique for high-energy collider detection. Heretofore, scintillation waveform data of high- energy physics events have been problematically random. This paper represents a bottleneck of data flow for the next generation of detectors for proton colliders like SSC or LHC. Prevailing problems to resolve were: additional time walk and jitter resulting from the random hitting positions of particles, increased walk and jitter caused by scintillation photon propagation dispersions, and quantum fluctuations of luminescence. However, these were manageable when the different aspects of randomness had been clarified in increased detail. For this purpose, these three were defined as pseudorandomness, quasi-randomness, and real randomness, respectively. A unique scintillation counter incorporating long scintillators with light guides, a drift chamber, and fast discriminators plus integrators was employed to resolve problems of correcting time walk and reducing the additional jitter by establishing an analytical waveform description of V(t,z) for a measured (z). Resolving problem was accomplished by reducing jitter by compressing V(t,z) with a nonlinear medium, called cooling scintillation. Resolving problem was proposed by orienting molecular and polarizing scintillation through the use of intense magnetic technology, called stabilizing the waveform

ITER L 6 equatorial maintenance duct remote handling study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Millard, J.

1996-09-01

The status and conclusions of a preliminary study of equatorial maintenance duct remote handling is reported. Due to issues with the original duct design a significant portion of the study had to be refocused on equatorial duct layout studies. The study gives an overview of some of the options for design of these ducts and the impact of the design on the equipment to work in the duct. To develop a remote handling concept for creating access through the ducts the following design tasks should be performed: define the operations sequences for equatorial maintenance duct opening and closing; review the remote handling requirements for equatorial maintenance duct opening and closing; design concept for door and pipe handling equipment and to propose preliminary procedures for material handling outsides the duct. 35 figs

Barium halide nanocrystals in fluorozirconate based glass ceramics for scintillation application

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Selling, J.

2007-07-01

Europium (Eu)-activated barium halide nanocrystals in fluorozirconate based glass ceramics represent a promising class of Xray scintillators. The scintillation in these glass ceramics is mainly caused by the emission of divalent Eu incorporated in hexagonal BaCl{sub 2} nanocrystals which are formed in the glass matrix upon appropriate annealing. Experiments with cerium (Ce)-activated fluorozironate glass ceramics showed that Ce is an interesting alternative. In order to get a better understanding of the scintillation mechanism in Eu- or Ce-activated barium halide nanocrystals, an investigation of the processes in the corresponding bulk material is essential. The objective of this thesis is the investigation of undoped, Eu-, and Ce-doped barium halides by X-ray excited luminescence (XL), pulse height, and scintillation decay spectra. That will help to figure out which of these crystals has the most promising scintillation properties and would be the best nanoparticles for the glass ceramics. Furthermore, alternative dopants like samarium (Sm) and manganese (Mn) were also investigated. Besides the above-mentioned optical investigation electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and Moessbauer measurements were carried out in order to complete the picture of Eu-doped barium halides. The EPR data of Eu-doped BaI{sub 2} is anticipated to yield more information about the crystal field and crystal structure that will help to understand the charge carrier process during the scintillation process. The main focus of the Moessbauer investigations was set on the Eu-doped fluorochlorozirconate glass ceramics. The results of this investigation should help to improve the glass ceramics. The Eu{sup 2+}/Eu{sup 3+} ratio in the glass ceramics should be determined and optimize favor of the Eu{sup 2+}. We also want to distinguish between Eu{sup 2+} in the glass matrix and Eu{sup 2+} in the nanocrystals. For a better understanding of Moessbauer spectroscopy on Eu also measurements on Eu in a

Barium halide nanocrystals in fluorozirconate based glass ceramics for scintillation application

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Selling, J.

2007-01-01

Europium (Eu)-activated barium halide nanocrystals in fluorozirconate based glass ceramics represent a promising class of Xray scintillators. The scintillation in these glass ceramics is mainly caused by the emission of divalent Eu incorporated in hexagonal BaCl 2 nanocrystals which are formed in the glass matrix upon appropriate annealing. Experiments with cerium (Ce)-activated fluorozironate glass ceramics showed that Ce is an interesting alternative. In order to get a better understanding of the scintillation mechanism in Eu- or Ce-activated barium halide nanocrystals, an investigation of the processes in the corresponding bulk material is essential. The objective of this thesis is the investigation of undoped, Eu-, and Ce-doped barium halides by X-ray excited luminescence (XL), pulse height, and scintillation decay spectra. That will help to figure out which of these crystals has the most promising scintillation properties and would be the best nanoparticles for the glass ceramics. Furthermore, alternative dopants like samarium (Sm) and manganese (Mn) were also investigated. Besides the above-mentioned optical investigation electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and Moessbauer measurements were carried out in order to complete the picture of Eu-doped barium halides. The EPR data of Eu-doped BaI 2 is anticipated to yield more information about the crystal field and crystal structure that will help to understand the charge carrier process during the scintillation process. The main focus of the Moessbauer investigations was set on the Eu-doped fluorochlorozirconate glass ceramics. The results of this investigation should help to improve the glass ceramics. The Eu 2+ /Eu 3+ ratio in the glass ceramics should be determined and optimize favor of the Eu 2+ . We also want to distinguish between Eu 2+ in the glass matrix and Eu 2+ in the nanocrystals. For a better understanding of Moessbauer spectroscopy on Eu also measurements on Eu in a CaF 2 host lattice were carried

The reduction of background signal in bismuth germanate scintillators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lewis, T.A.

1986-07-01

Bismuth germanate (BGO) is one of several new scintillator materials developed in recent years. It has similar energy resolution (6-8%) to sodium iodide (NaI) but it is non-hygroscopic, has a much better Peak-to-Compton ratio and a stopping power about 2.3 times greater than NaI. For counting activated foils it represents an improvement on NaI for high efficiency counting where the resolution of a germanium spectrometer is not required. Two scintillators bought for this purpose were found to have a higher than expected background signal between 500 keV and 2 MeV which was traced to Bi207, an active isotope of bismuth with a 38 year half-life and not listed as occurring naturally. Reference to the manufacturer showed all crystals to be similarly contaminated. It is speculated that this active isotope arises from cosmic proton activation of associated lead in the ore from which the bismuth is extracted. Although not confirmed rigorously it has been shown that bismuth extracted from ore with a low lead content does not contain Bi207. Scintillators have been manufactured from uncontaminated material and reductions in the background signal of more than an order of magnitude have been achieved. This reduction will be of immediate benefit for monitoring nickel foils (fast flux monitors) activated in zero-energy reactors and should also permit the exploitation of other low probability reactions previously not thought to be feasible. (author)

Dynamical variability in Saturn Equatorial Atmosphere

Science.gov (United States)

Sánchez-Lavega, A.; Pérez-Hoyos, S.; Hueso, R.; Rojas, J. F.; French, R. G.; Grupo Ciencias Planetarias Team

2003-05-01

Historical ground-based and recent HST observations show that Saturn's Equatorial Atmosphere is the region where the most intense large-scale dynamical variability took place at cloud level in the planet. Large-scale convective storms (nicknamed the ``Great White Spots") occurred in 1876, 1933 and 1990. The best studied case (the 1990 storm), produced a dramatic change in the cloud aspect in the years following the outburst of September 1990. Subsequently, a new large storm formed in 1994 and from 1996 to 2002 our HST observations showed periods of unusual cloud activity in the southern part of the Equator. This contrast with the aspect observed during the Voyager 1 and 2 encounters in 1980 and 1981 when the Equator was calm, except for some mid-scale plume-like features seen in 1981. Cloud-tracking of the features have revealed a dramatic slow down in the equatorial winds from maximum velocities of ˜ 475 m/s in 1980-1981 to ˜ 275 m/s during 1996-2002, as we have recently reported in Nature, Vol. 423, 623 (2003). We discuss the possibility that seasonal and ring-shadowing effects are involved in generating this activity and variability. Acknowledgements: This work was supported by the Spanish MCYT PNAYA 2000-0932. SPH acknowledges a PhD fellowship from the Spanish MECD and RH a post-doc fellowship from Gobierno Vasco. RGF was supported in part by NASA's Planetary Geology and Geophysics Program NAG5-10197 and STSCI Grant GO-08660.01A.

Phosphor scintillator structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cusano, D.A.; Prener, J.S.

1980-01-01

A method of fabricating scintillators is described in which the phosphor is distributed within the structure in such a way as to enhance the escape of the visible wavelength radiation that would otherwise be dissipated within the scintillator body. Two embodiments of the present invention are disclosed: one in which the phosphor is distributed in a layered structure and another in which the phosphor is dispersed throughout a transparent matrix. (U.K.)

ATLAS Rewards Russian Supplier for Scintillating Tile Production

CERN Multimedia

2001-01-01

At a ceremony held at CERN on 30 July, the ATLAS collaboration awarded Russian firm SIA Luch from Podolsk in the Moscow region an ATLAS Suppliers Award. This follows delivery by the company of the final batch of scintillating tiles for the collaboration's Tile Calorimeter some six months ahead of schedule.   Representatives of Russian firm Luch Podolsk received the ATLAS Suppliers Award in the collaboration's Tile Calorimeter instrumentation plant at CERN on 30 July. In front of one Tile Calorimeter module instrumented by scintillating tiles are (left to right) IHEP physicists Evgueni Startchenko and Andrei Karioukhine, Luch Podolsk representatives Igor Karetnikov and Yuri Zaitsev, Tile Calorimeter Project Leader Rupert Leitner, ATLAS spokesperson Peter Jenni, and CERN Tile Calorimeter group leader Ana Henriques-Correia. Scintillating tiles form the active part of the ATLAS hadronic Tile Calorimeter, which will measure the energy and direction of particles produced in LHC collisions. They are emb...

Nanophosphor composite scintillator with a liquid matrix

Science.gov (United States)

McKigney, Edward Allen; Burrell, Anthony Keiran; Bennett, Bryan L.; Cooke, David Wayne; Ott, Kevin Curtis; Bacrania, Minesh Kantilal; Del Sesto, Rico Emilio; Gilbertson, Robert David; Muenchausen, Ross Edward; McCleskey, Thomas Mark

2010-03-16

An improved nanophosphor scintillator liquid comprises nanophosphor particles in a liquid matrix. The nanophosphor particles are optionally surface modified with an organic ligand. The surface modified nanophosphor particle is essentially surface charge neutral, thereby preventing agglomeration of the nanophosphor particles during dispersion in a liquid scintillator matrix. The improved nanophosphor scintillator liquid may be used in any conventional liquid scintillator application, including in a radiation detector.

The streaming-trapped ion interface in the equatorial inner magnetosphere

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, J.; Horwitz, J. L.; Gallagher, D.; Pollock, C. J.

1994-01-01

Spacecraft measurements of core ions on L=4-7 field-lines typically show trapped ion distributions near the magnetic equator, and frequently indicate field-aligned ion streams at higher latitudes. The nature of the transition between them may indicate both the microphysics of hot-cold plasma interactions and overall consequences for core plasma evolution. We have undertaken a statistical analysis and characterization of this interface and its relation to the equatorial region of the inner magnetosphere. In this analysis, we have characterized such features as the equatorial ion flux anisotropy, the penetration of field-aligned ionospheric streams into the equatorial region, the scale of the transition into trapped ion populations, and the transition latitude. We found that most transition latitudes occur within 13 deg of the equator. The typical values of equatorial ion anisotropies are consistent with bi-Maxwellian temperature ratios of T(sub perpendicular)/T(sub parallel) in the range of 3-5. The latitudinal scales for the edges of the trapped ion populations display a rather strong peak in the 2-3 deg range. We also found that there is a trend for the penetration ratio, the anisotropy half width, and the transition scale length to decrease with a higher equatorial ion anisotropy. We may interpret these features in terms of Liouville mapping of equatorially trapped ions and the reflection of the incoming ionospheric ion streams from the equatorial potential peaks associated with such trapped ions.

Liquid scintillation counting of chlorophyll

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fric, F.; Horickova, B.; Haspel-Horvatovic, E.

1975-01-01

A precise and reproducible method of liquid scintillation counting was worked out for measuring the radioactivity of 14 C-labelled chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b solutions without previous bleaching. The spurious count rate caused by luminescence of the scintillant-chlorophyll system is eliminated by using a suitable scintillant and by measuring the radioactivity at 4 to 8 0 C after an appropriate time of dark adaptation. Bleaching of the chlorophyll solutions is necessary only for measuring of very low radioactivity. (author)

An equatorial coronal hole at solar minimum

Science.gov (United States)

Bromage, B. J. I.; DelZanna, G.; DeForest, C.; Thompson, B.; Clegg, J. R.

1997-01-01

The large transequatorial coronal hole that was observed in the solar corona at the end of August 1996 is presented. It consists of a north polar coronal hole called the 'elephant's trunk or tusk'. The observations of this coronal hole were carried out with the coronal diagnostic spectrometer onboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). The magnetic field associated with the equatorial coronal hole is strongly connected to that of the active region at its base, resulting in the two features rotating at almost the same rate.

Plastic Scintillators for Pulse Shape Discrimination of Particle Types in Radiation Detection

Science.gov (United States)

Hajagos, Tibor Jacob

Organic scintillators have a long history in the field of radiation detection, dating back to some of the earliest studies of organic photophysics and optoelectronic properties. In particular, plastics have come to dominate the commercial market for organic scintillators, due to their low cost and ease of use and manufacturing, and more notably in spite of their poorer performance in many metrics. While there has been decades of active research since their inception, little progress has been made to improve upon the now well established compositions of commercial plastics, a notable exception being the recent development of plastic scintillators capable of pulse shape discrimination (PSD) of n/gamma radiation, which is of particular interest among governments and industry for the detection of illicit nuclear material and weapons. In recent years, much attention has been paid towards the study of luminescent organic materials, in particular due to the invention and widespread adoption of organic light emitting diode (OLED) based electronic devices, and the knowledge and lessons that have been fundamental to such fields have recently begun to be adopted by the organic scintilator community. In this work, new approaches to the design of both plastic scintillator components, and of the materials as a whole, are described, with particular emphasis paid towards the design and synthesis of small molecule scintillating dyes that are specifically tailored towards the development of PSD-capable plastic scintilators. In the first of these approaches, the design and synthesis of a highly soluble and polymerizable derivative of 9,10-diphenylanthracene is described, and the properties of plastic scintilators fabricated from this dye when copolymerized with poly(vinyl toluene) were investigated. This particular approach was used to demonstrate a proof-of-concept of PSD in highly loaded plastics stabilized through copolymerization of the primary dye, a strategy conceived to

Scintillation counter based radiation dosimeter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shin, Jeong Hyun

2009-02-01

The average human exposure per year is about 240mrem which is come from Radon and human body and terrestrial and cosmic radiation and man-made source. Specially radiation exposure through air from environmental radiation sources is 80mrem/yr(= 0.01mR/hr) which come from Terrestrial and cosmic radiation. Radiation dose is defined as energy deposit/mass. There are two major methods to detect radiation. First method is the energy integration using Air equivalent material like GM counter wall material. Second method is the spectrum to dose conversion method using NaI(Tl), HPGe. These two methods are using generally to detect radiation. But these methods are expensive. So we need new radiation detection method. The research purpose is the development of economical environmental radiation dosimeter. This system consists of Plastic/Inorganic scintillator and Si photo-diode based detector and counting based circuitry. So count rate(cps) can be convert to air exposure rate(R/hr). There are three major advantages in this system. First advantages is no high voltage power supply like GM counter. Second advantage is simple electronics. Simple electronics system can be achieved by Air-equivalent scintillation detector with Al filter for the same detection efficiency vs E curve. From former two advantages, we can know the most important advantages of the this system. Third advantage is economical system. The price of typical GM counter is about $1000. But the price of our system is below $100 because of plastic scintillator and simple electronics. The role of scintillation material is emitting scintillation which is the flash of light produced in certain materials when they absorb ionizing radiation. Plastic scintillator is organic scintillator which is kind of hydrocarbons. The special point are cheap price, large size production(∼ton), moderate light output, fast light emission(ns). And the role of Al filter is equalizing counting efficiency of air and scintillator for

Radiation Damage in Scintillating Crystals

CERN Document Server

Zhu Ren Yuan

1998-01-01

Crystal Calorimetry in future high energy physics experiments faces a new challenge to maintain its precision in a hostile radiation environment. This paper discusses the effects of radiation damage in scintillating crystals, and concludes that the predominant radiation damage effect in crystal scintillators is the radiation induced absorption, or color center formation, not the loss of the scintillation light yield. The importance of maintaining crystal's light response uniformity and the feasibility to build a precision crystal calorimeter under radiation are elaborated. The mechanism of the radiation damage in scintillating crystals is also discussed. While the damage in alkali halides is found to be caused by the oxygen or hydroxyl contamination, it is the structure defects, such as oxygen vacancies, cause damage in oxides. Material analysis methods used to reach these conclusions are presented in details.

Shock-resistant scintillation detector

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Novak, W.P.

1979-01-01

A unique scintillation detector unit is disclosed which employs a special light transfer and reflector means that encases and protects the scintillator crystal against high g forces. The light transfer means comprises a flexible silicon rubber optical material bonded between the crystal and the optical window and having an axial thickness sufficient to allow the scintillator to move axially inside the container under high g forces without destroying the bonds. The reflector means comprises a soft elastic silicone rubber sleeve having a multiplicity of closely arranged tapered protrusions radiating toward and engaging the periphery of the scintillator crystal to cushion shocks effectively and having a reflective material, such as aluminum oxide powder, in the spaces between the protrusions. The reflector means provides improved shock absorption because of the uniform support and cushioning action of the protrusions and also provides the detector with high efficiency. The silicon rubber composition is specially compounded to include a large amount of aluminum oxide which enables the rubber to function effectively as a light reflector

Scintillating fiber detector performance, detector geometries, trigger, and electronics issues for scintillating fiber tracking

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baumbaugh, A.E.

1994-06-01

Scintillating Fiber tracking technology has made great advances and has demonstrated great potential for high speed charged particle tracking and triggering. The small detector sizes and fast scintillation fluors available make them very promising for use at high luminosity experiments at today's and tomorrow's colliding and fixed target experiments where high rate capability is essential. This talk will discuss the current state of Scintillating fiber performance and current Visual Light Photon Counter (VLPC) characteristics. The primary topic will be some of the system design and integration issues which should be considered by anyone attempting to design a scintillating fiber tracking system which includes a high speed tracking trigger. Design. constraints placed upon the detector system by the electronics and mechanical sub-systems will be discussed. Seemingly simple and unrelated decisions can have far reaching effects on overall system performance. SDC and DO example system designs will be discussed

Development of in-situ radon sensor using plastic scintillator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shitashima, Kiminori

2009-01-01

Underwater in-situ radon measurement is important scientific priority for oceanography, especially for survey and monitoring of submarine groundwater discharge (SDG). The high sensitivity and lightweight underwater in-situ radon sensor using NaI(Tl) doped plastic scintillator was developed for application to SDG research. Because NaI(Tl) doped plastic scintillator contacts seawater directly, the plastic scintillator can expect high sensitivity in comparison with NaI(Tl) crystal sealed in a container. In order to improve condensation efficiency of scintillation, the plastic scintillator was processed in funnel form and coated by light-resistant paint. This sensor consists of plastic scintillator, photomultiplier tube, preamplifier unit, high-voltage power supply, data logger and lithium-ion battery, and all parts are stored in a pressure housing (200φx300L). The newly developed underwater in-situ radon sensor was tested at hydrothermal area (underwater hot springs) that the hydrothermal fluid containing high concentration of radon is discharged into seawater. The sensor was operated by a diver, and sensitivity tests and mapping survey for estimation of radon diffusion were carried out. The signals of the radon sensor ranged from 20 to 65 mV, and these signals corresponded with radon concentration of 2 to 12 becquerels per liter. The sensor was able to detect radon to 20 m above the hydrothermal point (seafloor). Since the sensor is small and light-weight, measurement, monitoring and mapping can perform automatically by installing the sensor to an AUV (autonomous underwater vehicle). Furthermore, underwater in-situ radon sensor is expected an application to earthquake prediction and volcanic activity monitoring as well as oceanography and hydrology. (author)

Investigation of optically-induced DFB lasing in organic scintillators in order to achieve active ionizing radiation measurement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Michel, Maugan

2014-01-01

Transducers used for nuclear measurements are divided into two groups. The first one is made of detectors based on the movement of charged carriers created during the interaction of ionizing radiation with materials (ionization chambers, semiconductors, etc.). The second comprises scintillating materials which emit light following such interaction. The present work aims at shifting the current paradigm in order to achieve an active measurement of the interactions between particles and sensor. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the response of nano-structured scintillators when excited by a primary laser beam while in the presence of ionizing radiations. It consists more precisely in optically inducing a laser emission in scintillators so as to benefit from the inherent sensitivity of this kind of wave to any kind of change in its environment. This study is at first focused on controlling the propagation of the electromagnetic waves in nano-structured media. This nano-structuration allows the channeling of the electromagnetic energy in a particular direction and at a precise wavelength and thus to amplify the transduction signal. The second part of this study is dedicated to the attempts at observing any change in the emission in an amplified regime while exposed to ionizing radiations (alpha, beta). The limitation of these sources requires the use of an electron accelerator. The conclusion of this part lays the foundation for future work and provides hypotheses regarding the effects that could be expected from the irradiation with high electron fluxes. (author) [fr

Experimental results from a large volume active target made of glass capillaries and liquid scintillator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Annis, P.; Buontempo, S.; Brunner, J.; De Jong, M.; Fabre, J.P.; Frenkel, A.; Galeazzi, F.; Golovkin, S.; Gregoire, G.; Hoepfner, K.; Konijn, J.; Kozarenko, E.; Kreslo, I.; Kushnirenko, A.; Martellotti, G.; Mazzoni, M.A.; Medvedkov, A.; Michel, L.; Mondardini, M.R.; Panman, J.; Penso, G.; Petukhov, Y.; Riccardi, F.; Siegmund, W.P.; Strack, R.; Tyukov, V.; Vasilchenko, V.; Vilain, P.; Wilquet, G.; Winter, K.; Wong, H.; Zymin, K.

1995-01-01

We are investigating the feasibility of high-resolution tracking with an active target made of glass capillaries filled with organic liquid scintillator. This technique allows real time detection of short-lived particle decays. In this paper, we report on experimental results obtained from an active target having 2 x 2 cm 2 cross section and 180 cm length, installed in front of the CHORUS detector and exposed to the CERN Wide Band Neutrino Beam. The detector consists of 5.1 x 10 5 capillaries with 20 μm inner diameter, read out by a single optoelectronic chain and a Megapixel CCD. Details on tests in the neutrino beam will be reported. First neutrino interactions have been detected. (orig.)

Low level scintillation counting of 239Pu

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fueloep, M.; Minarik, F.; Cierna, V.

1984-01-01

For measuring the content of 239 Pu in samples taken from the working or living environment, methods should be used which are sufficiently sensitive for determining activities of the order of 10 -3 Bq. It is useful to use liquid scintillators for reasons of their 4π geometry and the exclusion of kinetic energy losses of particles detected in the sample and on the path between the sample and the detector. The method of background discrimination according to pulse shape may be used to suppress gamma background in the area of alpha particle peaks to the level 2.5x10 -4 s -1 . The diagram is given of electronic circuits for shape discrimination. The scintillator used was a SLS-31 with a PBD activator, a POPOP spectrum shifter and a mixture of solvents: toluene, dioxane and methanol. The efficiency of 239 Pu alpha particle detection is estimated at 78% and may further be improved by improving shape discrimination. (M.D.)

Longitudinal Variations in the Variability of Spread F Occurrence

Science.gov (United States)

Groves, K. M.; Bridgwood, C.; Carrano, C. S.

2017-12-01

The complex dynamics of the equatorial ionosphere have attracted the interest and attention of researchers for many decades. The relatively local processes that give rise to large meridional gradients have been well documented and the associated terminology has entered the common lexicon of ionospheric research (e.g., fountain effect, equatorial anomaly, bubbles, Spread F). Zonal variations have also been noted, principally at the level of determining longitudinal differences in seasonal activity patterns. Due to a historical lack of high resolution ground-based observations at low latitudes, the primary source of data for such analyses has been space-based observations from satellites such as ROCSAT, DMSP, C/NOFS that measure in situ electron density variations. An important longitudinal variation in electron density structure associated with non-migrating diurnal tides was discovered by Immel et al. in 2006 using data from the FUV sensor aboard the NASA IMAGE satellite. These satellite observations have been very helpful in identifying the structural characteristics of the equatorial ionosphere and the occurrence of Spread F, but they provide little insight into variations in scintillation features and potential differences in bubble development characteristics. Moreover space-based studies tend towards the statistics of occurrence frequency over periods of weeks to months. A recent analysis of daily spread F occurrence as determined by low latitude VHF scintillation activity shows that statistical results that are consistent with previous space-based observations, but the level of variability in the occurrence data show marked variations with longitude. For example, the American sector shows very low in-season variability while the African and Asian sectors exhibit true day-to-day variability regardless of seasonal variations. The results have significant implications for space weather as they suggest that long-term forecasts of equatorial scintillation may be

Luminescence and scintillation properties of rare-earth-doped LuF.sub.3./sub. scintillation crystals

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Pejchal, Jan; Fukuda, K.; Kurosawa, S.; Yokota, Y.; Yoshikawa, A.

2015-01-01

Roč. 41, Mar SI (2015), s. 58-62 ISSN 0925-3467 Institutional support: RVO:68378271 Keywords : lutetium fluoride * scintillator * scintillator * VUV luminescence Subject RIV: BM - Solid Matter Physics ; Magnetism Impact factor: 2.183, year: 2015

Scintillator plate calorimetry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Price, L.E.

1990-01-01

Calorimetry using scintillator plates or tiles alternated with sheets of (usually heavy) passive absorber has been proven over multiple generations of collider detectors. Recent detectors including UA1, CDF, and ZEUS have shown good results from such calorimeters. The advantages offered by scintillator calorimetry for the SSC environment, in particular, are speed (<10 nsec), excellent energy resolution, low noise, and ease of achieving compensation and hence linearity. On the negative side of the ledger can be placed the historical sensitivity of plastic scintillators to radiation damage, the possibility of nonuniform response because of light attenuation, and the presence of cracks for light collection via wavelength shifting plastic (traditionally in sheet form). This approach to calorimetry is being investigated for SSC use by a collaboration of Ames Laboratory/Iowa State University, Argonne National Laboratory, Bicron Corporation, Florida State University, Louisiana State University, University of Mississippi, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Westinghouse Electric Corporation, and University of Wisconsin

A review of recent results on spread F theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ossakow, S.L.

1979-01-01

Ionospheric Spread F was discovered some four decades ago. Yet only in the past few years has significant progress been made in the theoretical explanation of such phenomena. In particular, considerable effort has been expended to explain equatorial Spread F and the attendant satellite signal propagation scintillation phenomena. The present review dwells mainly in this low latitude area. The various linear plasma instabilities thought to initiate equatorial Spread F are discussed. Recent theoretical and numerical simulation studies of the nonlinear evolution of the collisional Rayleigh-Taylor instability in equatorial Spread F are reviewed. Also, analytical studies of rising equatorial Spread F bubbles in the collisional and collisionless Rayleigh-Taylor regime are discussed, as well as the nohlinear saturation of instabilities in these two regimes. Current theories on very small scale (< approx 10 meters) size irregularities observed by radar backscatter during equatorial Spread F and their relation to the larger wavelength scintillation causing irregularities are discussed. Application of turbulence theory to equatorial Spread F phenomena is reviewed. Remaining problems to be dealt with at equatorial latitudes are summarized. (Auth.)

Physics of scintillation detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Novotny, R.

1991-01-01

The general concept of a radiation detector is based on three fundamental principles: sensitivity of the device to the radiation of interest which requires a large cross-section in the detector material, detector response function to the physical properties of the radiation. As an example, a scintillation detector for charged particles should allow to identify the charge of the particle, its kinetic energy and the time of impact combined with optimum resolutions. Optimum conversion of the detector response (like luminescence of a scintillator) into electronical signals for further processing. The following article will concentrate on the various aspects of the first two listed principles as far as they appear to be relevant for photon and charged particle detection using organic and inorganic scintillation detectors. (orig.)

Liquid scintillation counting system with automatic gain correction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Frank, R.B.

1976-01-01

An automatic liquid scintillation counting apparatus is described including a scintillating medium in the elevator ram of the sample changing apparatus. An appropriate source of radiation, which may be the external source for standardizing samples, produces reference scintillations in the scintillating medium which may be used for correction of the gain of the counting system

Ion induced scintillation in organic solids: development of an average track model,degradation of the scintillation intensity and dosimetric applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Broggio, D.

2004-12-01

This work deals with a specific aspect of the ion-matter interaction: the scintillation induced by ions in organic materials. In the first chapter we tackle the issue in a theoretical way by proposing a method to compute the radial doses within the framework of the mean track model. We have developed a model based on the Lewis transport equation and on the Spencer distribution of the loss energy in order to take into account the transport of secondary electrons in a more realistic way. In the second chapter we study the physical mechanisms that trigger ion-induced scintillation. Ion-induced scintillation is featured by the dependence in charge number of the intensity of scintillation for ions with same energy loss and by the saturation of the scintillation efficiency for ions with high stopping-power. We have applied our model of radial doses to ion-induced scintillation. In the third chapter we study the gradual degradation of the scintillation intensity and ion-induced chemical damages. In the last chapter we propose a prototype of dosimeters based on the combination of scintillators and optical fibers that allows the real-time measurement of the dose delivered by a carbon ion beam in therapeutical use conditions. This dosimeter gives the relationship between the dose and the scintillation intensity but its accuracy is not yet sufficient for uses in radiotherapy. (A.C.)

Liquid-helium scintillation detection with germanium photodiodes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Luke, P.N.; Haller, E.E.; Steiner, H.M.

1982-05-01

Special high-purity germanium photodiodes have been developed for the direct detection of vacuum ultraviolet scintillations in liquid helium. The photodiodes are immersed in the liquid helium, and scintillations are detected through one of the bare sides of the photodiodes. Test results with scintillation photons produced by 5.3-MeV α particles are presented. The use of these photodiodes as liquid-helium scintillation detectors may offer substantial improvements over the alternate detection method requiring the use of wavelength shifters and photomultiplier tubes

Scintillation light transport and detection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gabriel, T.A.; Lillie, R.A.

1986-08-01

The MORSE neutron gamma-ray transport code has been modified to allow for the transport of scintillation light. This modified code is used to analyze the light collection characteristics of a large liquid scintillator module (18 x 18 x 350 cm 3 )

4 GHz ionospheric scintillations observed at Taipei

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huang, Y.N.; Jeng, B.S.

1978-01-01

In a study of ionospheric scintillations 3950 MHz beacon signals from geostationary communication satellites Intelsat-IV-F8 and Intelsat-IV-F1 were recorded on a strip chart and magnetic tape at the Taipei Earth Station. While the strip charts were used to monitor the occurrence of the scintillation, the magnetic tape output was digitized and processed by a computerized system to yield a detailed analysis of scintillation events. It was found that diurnal variations were similar to the diurnal patterns of sporadic E at greater than 5 MHz and VHF band ionospheric scintillations during daytime as reported by Huang (1978). Eight typical scintillation events were selected for the calculation of the scintillation index, S4, and other parameters. The mean S4 index for the 8 events was found to be 0.15. Numerical and graphic results are presented for the cumulative amplitude distributions, message reliability, autocorrelation functions and power spectra

New perspectives for undoped CaF2 scintillator as a threshold activation neutron detector

Science.gov (United States)

Sibczynski, Pawel; Dziedzic, Andrzej; Grodzicki, Krystian; Iwanowska-Hanke, Joanna; Moszyński, Marek; Swiderski, Lukasz; Syntfeld-Każuch, Agnieszka; Wolski, Dariusz; Carrel, Frédérick; Grabowski, Amélie; Hamel, Matthieu; Laine, Frederic; Sari, Adrien; Iovene, Alessandro; Tintori, Carlo; Fontana, Cristiano; Pino, Felix

2018-01-01

In this paper we present the prompt photofission neutron detection performance of undoped CaF2 scintillator using Threshold Activation Detection (TAD). The study is carried out in the frame of C-BORD Horizon 2020 project, during which an efficient toolbox for high volume freight non-intrusive inspection (NII) is under development. Technologies for radiation monitoring are the part of the project. Particularly, detection of various radiological threats on country borders plays an important significant role in Homeland Security applications. Detection of illegal transfer of Special Nuclear Material (SNM) - 235U, 233U and 239Pu - is particular due to the potential use for production of nuclear weapon as well as radiological dispersal device (RDD) V known also as a "dirty bomb". This technique relies on activation of 19F nuclei in the scintillator medium by fast neutrons and registration of high-energy β particles and γ-rays from the decay of reaction products. The radiation from SNM is detected after irradiation in order to avoid detector blinding. Despite the low 19F(n,α)16N or 19F(n,p)19O reaction cross-section, the method could be a good solution for detection of shielded nuclear material. Results obtained with the CaF2 detector were compared with the previous study done for BaF2 and 3He detector. These experimental results were obtained using 252Cf source and 9 MeV Varian Linatron M9 linear accelerator (LINAC). Finally, performance of the prompt neutron detection system based on CaF2 will be validated at Rotterdam Seaport during field trails in 2018.

New perspectives for undoped CaF2 scintillator as a threshold activation neutron detector

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sibczynski Pawel

2018-01-01

Full Text Available In this paper we present the prompt photofission neutron detection performance of undoped CaF2 scintillator using Threshold Activation Detection (TAD. The study is carried out in the frame of C-BORD Horizon 2020 project, during which an efficient toolbox for high volume freight non-intrusive inspection (NII is under development. Technologies for radiation monitoring are the part of the project. Particularly, detection of various radiological threats on country borders plays an important significant role in Homeland Security applications. Detection of illegal transfer of Special Nuclear Material (SNM - 235U, 233U and 239Pu - is particular due to the potential use for production of nuclear weapon as well as radiological dispersal device (RDD V known also as a “dirty bomb”. This technique relies on activation of 19F nuclei in the scintillator medium by fast neutrons and registration of high-energy β particles and γ-rays from the decay of reaction products. The radiation from SNM is detected after irradiation in order to avoid detector blinding. Despite the low 19F(n,α16N or 19F(n,p19O reaction cross-section, the method could be a good solution for detection of shielded nuclear material. Results obtained with the CaF2 detector were compared with the previous study done for BaF2 and 3He detector. These experimental results were obtained using 252Cf source and 9 MeV Varian Linatron M9 linear accelerator (LINAC. Finally, performance of the prompt neutron detection system based on CaF2 will be validated at Rotterdam Seaport during field trails in 2018.

Backscatter measurements of 11-cm equatorial spread-F irregularities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsunoda, R.T.

1980-01-01

In the equatorial F-region ionosphere, a turbulent cascade process has been found to exist that extends from irregularity spatial wavelengths longer than tens of kilometers down to wavelengths as short as 36 cm. To investigate the small-scale regime of wavelengths less than 36 cm, an equatorial radar experiment was conducted using a frequency of 1320 MHz that corresponds to an irregularity wavelength of 11 cm. The first observations of radar backscatter from 11-cm field-aligned irregularities (FAI) are described. These measurements extend the spatial wavelength regime of F-region FAI to lengths that approach both electron gyroradius and the Debye length. Agreement of these results with the theory of high-frequency drift waves suggests that these observations may be unique to the equatorial ionosphere. That is, the requirement of low electron densities for which the theroy calls may preclude the existence of 11-cm FAI elsewhere in the F-region ionosphere, except in equatorial plasma bubbles

Characteristics of equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA) in relation to transionospheric satellite links around the northern crest in the Indian longitude sector

Science.gov (United States)

Das, A.; Paul, K. S.; Halder, S.; Basu, K.; Paul, A.

2014-02-01

The poleward gradient of the equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA) introduces more intense propagation effects on transionospheric satellite links in comparison to the equatorward gradient. Characterization of the poleward gradient was performed during March-April, August-October 2011 and March-April 2012 using GPS total electron content (TEC) recorded from a chain of stations located more or less along the same meridian (88.5° E) at Calcutta, Baharampore, Farakka and Siliguri. The poleward gradients calculated on magnetically quiet days at elevation in excess of 50° at 14:00, 15:00 and 16:00 LT were found to have a strong correlation with GPS S4 observed from Calcutta during post-sunset-to-midnight hours. A threshold value of poleward TEC gradient is calculated above which there is a probability of scintillation at Calcutta with S4 ≥ 0.4.

Characteristics of equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA in relation to transionospheric satellite links around the northern crest in the Indian longitude sector

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Das

2014-02-01

Full Text Available The poleward gradient of the equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA introduces more intense propagation effects on transionospheric satellite links in comparison to the equatorward gradient. Characterization of the poleward gradient was performed during March–April, August–October 2011 and March–April 2012 using GPS total electron content (TEC recorded from a chain of stations located more or less along the same meridian (88.5° E at Calcutta, Baharampore, Farakka and Siliguri. The poleward gradients calculated on magnetically quiet days at elevation in excess of 50° at 14:00, 15:00 and 16:00 LT were found to have a strong correlation with GPS S4 observed from Calcutta during post-sunset-to-midnight hours. A threshold value of poleward TEC gradient is calculated above which there is a probability of scintillation at Calcutta with S4 ≥ 0.4.

A gamma-ray discriminating neutron scintillator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eschbach, P.A.; Miller, S.D.; Cole, M.C.

1994-01-01

A neutron scintillator has been developed at Pacific Northwest Laboratory which responds directly to as little as 10 mrem/hour dose equivalent rate fast neutron fields. The scintillator is composed of CaF 2 :Eu or of NaI grains within a silicone rubber or polystyrene matrix, respectively. Neutrons colliding with the plastic matrix provide knockon protons, which in turn deposit energy within the grains of phosphor to produce pulses of light. Neutron interactions are discriminated from gamma-ray events on the basis of pulse height. Unlike NE-213 liquid scintillators, this solid scintillator requires no pulseshape discrimination and therefore requires less hardware. Neutron events are anywhere from two to three times larger than the gamma-ray exposures are compared to 0.7 MeV gamma-ray exposures. The CaF 2 :Eu/silicone rubber scintillator is nearly optically transparent, and can be made into a very sizable detector (4 cm x 1.5 cm) without degrading pulse height. This CaF 2 :Eu scintillator has been observed to have an absolute efficiency of 0.1% when exposed to 5-MeV accelerator-generated neutrons (where the absolute efficiency is the ratio of observed neutron events divided by the number of fast neutrons striking the detector)

Survey meter using novel inorganic scintillators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoshikawa, Akira; Fukuda, Kentaro; Kawaguchi, Noriaki; Kamada, Kei; Fujimoto, Yutaka; Yokota, Yuui; Kurosawa, Shunsuke; Yanagida, Takayuki

2012-01-01

Single crystal scintillator materials are widely used for detection of high-energy photons and particles. There is continuous demand for new scintillator materials with higher performance because of increasing number of medical, industrial, security and other applications. This article presents the recent development of three novel inorganic scintillators; Pr-doped Lu 3 Al 5 O 12 (Pr:LuAG), Ce doped Gd 3 (Al, Ga) 5 O 12 (Ce:GAGG) and Ce or Eu-doped 6 LiCaAlF 6 (Ce:LiCAF, Eu:LiCAF). Pr:LuAG shows very interesting scintillation properties including very fast decay time, high light yield and excellent energy resolution. Taking the advantage of these properties, positron emission mammography (PEM) equipped with Pr:LuAG were developed. Ce:GAGG shows very high light yield, which is much higher than that of Ce:LYSO. Survey meter using Ce:GAGG is developed using this scintillator. Ce:LiCAF and Eu:LiCAF were developed for neutron detection. The advantage and disadvantage are discussed comparing with halide scintillators. Eu-doped LiCAF indicated five times higher light yield than that of existing Li-glass. It is expected to be used as the alternative of 3 He. (author)

Analysis of strong ionospheric scintillation events measured by means of GPS signals at low latitudes during disturbed conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Forte, B.

2012-08-01

Drifting structures characterized by inhomogeneities in the spatial electron density distribution at ionospheric heights cause the scintillation of radio waves propagating through. The fractional electron density fluctuations and the corresponding scintillation levels may reach extreme values at low latitudes during high solar activity. Different levels of scintillation were observed on experimental data collected in the Asian sector at low latitudes by means of a GPS dual frequency receiver under moderate solar activity (2005). The GPS receiver used in these campaigns was particularly modified in firmware in order to record power estimates on the C/A code as well as on the carriers L1 and L2. Strong scintillation activity was recorded in the post-sunset period (saturatingS4 and SI as high as 20 dB). Spectral modifications and broadening was observed during high levels of scintillation possibly indicating refractive scattering taking place instead of diffractive scattering. A possible interpretation of those events was attempted on the basis of the refractive scattering theory developed by Uscinski (1968) and Booker and MajidiAhi (1981).

Liquid scintillation alpha counting and spectrometry and its application to bone and tissue samples

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McDowell, W.J.; Weiss, J.F.

1976-01-01

Three methods for determination of alpha-emitting nuclides using liquid scintillation counting are compared, and the pertinent literature is reviewed. Data showing the application of each method to the measurement of plutonium concentration in tissue and bone samples are presented. Counting with a commercial beta-liquid scintillation counter and an aqueous-phase-accepting scintillator is shown to be accurate only in cases where the alpha activity is high (several hundred counts/min or more), only gross alpha counting is desired, and beta-gamma emitters are known to be absent from the sample or present at low levels compared with the alpha activity. Counting with the same equipment and an aqueous immiscible scintillator containing an extractant for the nuclide of interest (extractive scintillator) is shown to allow better control of alpha peak shift due to quenching, a significant reduction of beta-gamma interference, and, usually, a low background. The desirability of using a multichannel pulse-height analyzer in the above two counting methods is stressed. The use of equipment and procedures designed for alpha liquid scintillation counting is shown to allow alpha spectrometry with an energy resolution capability of 200 to 300 keV full-peak-width-at-half-peak-height and a background of 0.3 to 1.0 counts/min, or as low as 0.01 counts/min if pulse-shape discrimination methods are used. Methods for preparing animal bone and tissue samples for assay are described

Characterization and development of an active scintillating target for nuclear reaction studies on actinides

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Belier, Gilbert, E-mail: gilbert.belier@cea.fr [CEA, DAM, DIF, DPTA, Centre du Grand Rue, 91297 Arpajon (France); Aupiais, Jean; Varignon, Cyril; Vayre, Sylvain [CEA, DAM, DIF, DPTA, Centre du Grand Rue, 91297 Arpajon (France)

2012-02-01

This article presents the development of a new kind of active actinide target, based on organic liquid scintillators containing the dissolved isotope. Amongst many advantages one can mention the very high detection efficiency, the Pulse Shape Discrimination capability, the fast response allowing high count rates and good time resolution and the ease of fabrication. The response of this target to fission fragments has been studied. The discrimination of alpha, fission and proton recoil events is demonstrated. The alpha decay and fission detection efficiencies are simulated and compared to measurements. Finally the use of such a target in the context of fast neutron induced reactions is discussed.

Characterization and development of an active scintillating target for nuclear reaction studies on actinides

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Belier, Gilbert; Aupiais, Jean; Varignon, Cyril; Vayre, Sylvain

2012-01-01

This article presents the development of a new kind of active actinide target, based on organic liquid scintillators containing the dissolved isotope. Amongst many advantages one can mention the very high detection efficiency, the Pulse Shape Discrimination capability, the fast response allowing high count rates and good time resolution and the ease of fabrication. The response of this target to fission fragments has been studied. The discrimination of alpha, fission and proton recoil events is demonstrated. The alpha decay and fission detection efficiencies are simulated and compared to measurements. Finally the use of such a target in the context of fast neutron induced reactions is discussed.

High altitude flights in equatorial regions

Science.gov (United States)

Redkar, R. T.

A thorough analysis of balloon flights made from Hyderabad, India (Latitude 17°28'N, Longitude 78°35'E), and other equatorial sites has been made. It has been shown that limited success is expected for flights made from equatorial latitudes with balloons made out of natural colour polyethylene film, since the best known balloon film in the world today viz. Winzen Stratofilm is tested for low temperature brittleness only at -80°C., whereas the tropopause temperatures over equatorial latitudes vary between -80°C and -90°C. The success becomes even more critical when flights are made with heavy payloads and larger balloons particularly at night when in the absence of solar radiation the balloon film becomes more susceptible to low temperature brittle failure. It is recommended that in case of capped balloons longer caps should be used to fully cover the inflated protion of the balloon at the higher level equatorial tropopause. It is also advised that the conditions such as wind shears in the tropopause should be critically studied before launching and a day with the tropopause temperature nearer to -80°C should be chosen. Special care also should be taken while handling the balloon on ground and during launching phase. Properties of Winzen Stratofilm have been critically studied and fresh mandates have been recommended on the basis of limiting values of film stresses which caused balloon failures in the equatorial tropopause. It is also emphasized that the data on such flights is still meagre especially for flights with heavy payloads and larger balloons. It has been also shown that it is safest to use balloons made out of grey coloured film which retains its flexibility with the absorption of solar radiation, the success obtained with such balloons so far being 100%. The drawback, however, is that these balloons cannot be used for night flights. Stratospheric wind regimes over Hyderabad are also discussed with a view to determine the period over which long

Faith in a seed: on the origins of equatorial plasma bubbles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. M. Retterer

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Our faith in the seeds of equatorial plasma irregularities holds that there will generally always be density perturbations sufficient to provide the seeds for irregularity development whenever the Rayleigh–Taylor instability is active. When the duration of the time of the Rayleigh–Taylor instability is short, however, the magnitude of the seed perturbations can make a difference in whether the irregularities have a chance to grow to a strength at which the nonlinear development of plumes occurs. In addition, the character of the resulting irregularities reflects the characteristics of the initial seed density perturbation, e.g., their strength, spacing, and, to some extent, their spatial scales, and it is important to know the seeds to help determine the structure of the developed irregularities. To this end, we describe the climatology of daytime and early-evening density irregularities that can serve as seeds for later development of plumes, as determined from the Planar Langmuir Probe (PLP plasma density measurements on the C/NOFS (Communication and Navigation Outage Forecast System satellite mission, presenting their magnitude as a function of altitude, latitude, longitude, local time, season, and phase in the solar cycle (within the C/NOFS observation era. To examine some of the consequences of these density perturbations, they are used as initial conditions for the PBMOD PBMOD (Retterer, 2010a 3-D irregularity model to follow their potential development into larger-amplitude irregularities, plumes, and radio scintillation. "Though I do not believe that a pla[sma bubble] will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed. Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders." – Henry David Thoreau

Status of timing with plastic scintillation detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moszynski, M.; Bengtson, B.

1979-01-01

Timing properties of scintillators and photomultipliers as well as theoretical and experimental studies of time resolution of scintillation counters are reviewed. Predictions of the theory of the scintillation pulse generation processes are compared with the data on the light pulse shape from small samples, in which the light pulse shape depends only on the composition of the scintillator. For larger samples the influence of the light collection process and the self-absorption process on the light pulse shape are discussed. The data on rise times, fwhm's, decay times and light yield of several commercial scintillators used in timing are collected. The next part of the paper deals with the properties of photomultipliers. The sources of time uncertainties in photomultipliers as a spread of the initial velocity of photoelectrons, emission of photoelectrons under different angles and from different points at the photocathode, the time spread and the gain dispersion introduced by electron photomultiplier are reviewed. The experimental data on the time jitter, single electron response and photoelectron yield of some fast photomultipliers are collected. As the time resolution of the timing systems with scintillation counters depends also on time pick-off units, a short presentation of the timing methods is given. The discussion of timing theories is followed by a review of experimental studies of the time resolution of scintillation counters. The paper is ended by an analysis of prospects on further progress of the subnanosecond timing with scintillation counters. (Auth.)

Waveshifters and Scintillators for Ionizing Radiation Detection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baumgaugh, B.; Bishop, J.; Karmgard, D.; Marchant, J.; McKenna, M.; Ruchti, R.; Vigneault, M.; Hernandez, L.; Hurlbut, C.

2007-01-01

Scintillation and waveshifter materials have been developed for the detection of ionizing radiation in an STTR program between Ludlum Measurements, Inc. and the University of Notre Dame. Several new waveshifter materials have been developed which are comparable in efficiency and faster in fluorescence decay than the standard material Y11 (K27) used in particle physics for several decades. Additionally, new scintillation materials useful for fiber tracking have been developed which have been compared to 3HF. Lastly, work was done on developing liquid scintillators and paint-on scintillators and waveshifters for high radiation environments

Physics-informed machine learning for inorganic scintillator discovery

Science.gov (United States)

Pilania, G.; McClellan, K. J.; Stanek, C. R.; Uberuaga, B. P.

2018-06-01

Applications of inorganic scintillators—activated with lanthanide dopants, such as Ce and Eu—are found in diverse fields. As a strict requirement to exhibit scintillation, the 4f ground state (with the electronic configuration of [Xe]4fn 5d0) and 5d1 lowest excited state (with the electronic configuration of [Xe]4fn-1 5d1) levels induced by the activator must lie within the host bandgap. Here we introduce a new machine learning (ML) based search strategy for high-throughput chemical space explorations to discover and design novel inorganic scintillators. Building upon well-known physics-based chemical trends for the host dependent electron binding energies within the 4f and 5d1 energy levels of lanthanide ions and available experimental data, the developed ML model—coupled with knowledge of the vacuum referred valence and conduction band edges computed from first principles—can rapidly and reliably estimate the relative positions of the activator's energy levels relative to the valence and conduction band edges of any given host chemistry. Using perovskite oxides and elpasolite halides as examples, the presented approach has been demonstrated to be able to (i) capture systematic chemical trends across host chemistries and (ii) effectively screen promising compounds in a high-throughput manner. While a number of other application-specific performance requirements need to be considered for a viable scintillator, the scheme developed here can be a practically useful tool to systematically down-select the most promising candidate materials in a first line of screening for a subsequent in-depth investigation.

Deep depletions of total electron content associated with severe mid-latitude gigahertz scintillations during geomagnetic storms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ogawa, T.; Kumagai, H.

1985-01-01

Using 136-MHz Faraday rotation data obtained at three closely spaced stations, we present evidence that severe nightime gigahertz scintillations, which appear rarely at mid-latitudes around Japan only during geomagnetic storm conditions, are closely associated with deep depletions of total electron content (TEC). The TEC depletions amount to 2--8 x 10 16 el/m 2 (10--30% of the background TEC), and their durations range from 10 min to 1 hour. These depletions move northeastward or eastward with velocities between 60 and 260 m/s. The depletions are probably not counterparts of the equatorial bubbles but seem to be formed in localized regions around Japan under complicated and peculiar ionospheric conditions. There is an indication that the oscillation of the F region caused by large-scale TID's propagating from north to south (approx.600 m/s) may initiate the generation of the depletion

Rapid determination of gross alpha and beta activity in seafood utilizing microwave digestion and liquid scintillation counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Daniel Sas; Jiri Janda; Alena Tokarova

2015-01-01

This paper describes a method for rapid determination of gross alpha and beta activity in seafood using liquid scintillation counting and microwave digestion for fast sample decomposition. The general group of seafood was divided into two groups based on its structure, whether it has shell or not. The selected group of radionuclides was chosen with respect to military significance, radiotoxicity, and possibility of potential misuse. 90 Sr and 239 Pu were selected as model radionuclides. (author)

The Response of Equatorial Ionization Anomaly in 120°E to the Geomagnetic Storm of 18 August 2003 at Different Altitudes From Multiple Satellite Observations

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Weihua; Zhu, Zhengping; Xiong, Chao; Chang, Shanshan

2017-12-01

In this paper, the variations of equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA) in 120°E region during the 17-20 August 2003 storm are investigated from measurements of satellites at different altitudes from Challenging Minisatellite Payload (CHAMP), Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), scientific satellite of the Republic of China (ROCSAT-1), and Defense Meteorological Satellite Program missions. The results showed that (1) at CHAMP and GRACE altitudes, the EIA was inhibited before the storm sudden commencement (SSC) and also during the storm recovery phase, but it was enhanced significantly during the storm main phase of the storm. (2) The variations of EIA strength and interhemispheric density asymmetry of the two crests were similar at CHAMP and GRACE altitudes, while the location asymmetry of the two crests was different at CHAMP and GRACE altitudes. (3) The irregularities and long-duration scintillation were recorded before the SSC of the storm, when the EIA was inhibited. The irregularities at different altitudes and short-duration scintillation were observed during the main phase of the storm, when the EIA was enhanced significantly. (4) The EIA enhancement can be attributed to the enhanced electric field due to prompt penetration interplanetary electric fields and the storm time neutral wind, while the suppression of EIA on 17 August can be attributed to the absence of the equatorward neutral wind, which varied with the altitudes. The EIA inhibition during the recovery phase may be caused mainly by the neutral wind. Our results suggest that the neutral wind is the crucial factor causing the variations in EIA and the occurrence of scintillation.

Nonlinear bounce resonances between magnetosonic waves and equatorially mirroring electrons

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Lunjin; Maldonado, Armando; Bortnik, Jacob; Thorne, Richard M.; Li, Jinxing; Dai, Lei; Zhan, Xiaoya

2015-08-01

Equatorially mirroring energetic electrons pose an interesting scientific problem, since they generally cannot resonate with any known plasma waves and hence cannot be scattered down to lower pitch angles. Observationally it is well known that the flux of these equatorial particles does not simply continue to build up indefinitely, and so a mechanism must necessarily exist that transports these particles from an equatorial pitch angle of 90° down to lower values. However, this mechanism has not been uniquely identified yet. Here we investigate the mechanism of bounce resonance with equatorial noise (or fast magnetosonic waves). A test particle simulation is used to examine the effects of monochromatic magnetosonic waves on the equatorially mirroring energetic electrons, with a special interest in characterizing the effectiveness of bounce resonances. Our analysis shows that bounce resonances can occur at the first three harmonics of the bounce frequency (nωb, n = 1, 2, and 3) and can effectively reduce the equatorial pitch angle to values where resonant scattering by whistler mode waves becomes possible. We demonstrate that the nature of bounce resonance is nonlinear, and we propose a nonlinear oscillation model for characterizing bounce resonances using two key parameters, effective wave amplitude à and normalized wave number k~z. The threshold for higher harmonic resonance is more strict, favoring higher à and k~z, and the change in equatorial pitch angle is strongly controlled by k~z. We also investigate the dependence of bounce resonance effects on various physical parameters, including wave amplitude, frequency, wave normal angle and initial phase, plasma density, and electron energy. It is found that the effect of bounce resonance is sensitive to the wave normal angle. We suggest that the bounce resonant interaction might lead to an observed pitch angle distribution with a minimum at 90°.

Scintillation characteristics of phosphich-detector for detection of beta- and gamma-radiations

CERN Document Server

Ananenko, A A; Gavrilyuk, V

2002-01-01

The results of the study on the influence of individual peculiarities of the compound scintillation detector structure on the value and stability of the light yield by the gamma- and beta-radiation combined registration are presented. The phosphich detector is manufactured from the sodium iodide monocrystal, activated by thallium, and the scintillation plastic on the polystyrol basis. The comparison of the experimental results with the mathematical modeling data revealed certain regularities of the process of forming the phosphich detector light signal. The recommendations are worked out by means whereof the following characteristics of the scintillation unit: the light yield and its stability, amplitude resolution and the peak-to-valley ratio by the gamma- and beta-radiation registration were improved

Quantum mechanical cluster calculations of critical scintillation processes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Derenzo, Stephen E.; Klintenberg, Mattias K.; Weber, Marvin J.

2000-01-01

This paper describes the use of commercial quantum chemistry codes to simulate several critical scintillation processes. The crystal is modeled as a cluster of typically 50 atoms embedded in an array of typically 5,000 point charges designed to reproduce the electrostatic field of the infinite crystal. The Schrodinger equation is solved for the ground, ionized, and excited states of the system to determine the energy and electron wave function. Computational methods for the following critical processes are described: (1) the formation and diffusion of relaxed holes, (2) the formation of excitons, (3) the trapping of electrons and holes by activator atoms, (4) the excitation of activator atoms, and (5) thermal quenching. Examples include hole diffusion in CsI, the exciton in CsI, the excited state of CsI:Tl, the energy barrier for the diffusion of relaxed holes in CaF2 and PbF2, and prompt hole trapping by activator atoms in CaF2:Eu and CdS:Te leading to an ultra-fast (<50ps) scintillation rise time.

(Alpha-) quenching temperature dependence in liquid scintillator

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Soerensen, Arnd; Lozza, Valentina; Krosigk, Belina von; Zuber, Kai [Institut fuer Kern- und Teilchenphysik, TU Dresden (Germany)

2015-07-01

Liquid scintillator (LS) is an effective and promising detector material, which is and will be used by many small and large scale experiments. In order to perform correct signal identification and background suppression, a very good knowledge of LS properties is crucial. One of those is the light yield from alpha particles in liquid scintillator. This light output strongly quenched, approx. 10 times compared to that of electrons, and has been precisely studied at room temperature for various LS. Big scintillator experiments, such as SNO+ and maybe future large scale detectors, will operate at different temperatures. While a strong temperature dependence is well known for solid state scintillators, due to the different scintillation process, a quenching temperature dependence in LS is usually assumed negligible. On the other hand, inconsistencies in between measurements are often explained by potential temperature effects. This study investigates LAB based liquid scintillator with an intrinsic, dissolved alpha emitter and its behaviour with temperature change. In a small, cooled and heated setup, a stabilized read-out with two PMTs is realised. First results are presented.

Systematic studies of small scintillators for new sampling calorimeter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jacosalem, E.P.; Sanchez, A.L.C.; Bacala, A.M.; Iba, S.; Nakajima, N.; Ono, H.; Miyata, H.

2007-01-01

A new sampling calorimeter using very thin scintillators and the multi-pixel photon counter (MPPC) has been proposed to produce better position resolution for the international linear collider (ILC) experiment. As part of this R and D study, small plastic scintillators of different sizes, thickness and wrapping reflectors are systematically studied. The scintillation light due to beta rays from a collimated 90 Sr source are collected from the scintillator by wavelength-shifting (WLS) fiber and converted into electrical signals at the PMT. The wrapped scintillator that gives the best light yield is determined by comparing the measured pulse height of each 10 x 40 x 2 mm strip scintillator covered with 3M reflective mirror film, teflon, white paint, black tape, gold, aluminum and white paint+teflon. The pulse height dependence on position, length and thickness of the 3M reflective mirror film and teflon wrapped scintillators are measured. Results show that the 3M radiant mirror film-wrapped scintillator has the greatest light yield with an average of 9.2 photoelectrons. It is observed that light yield slightly increases with scintillator length, but increases to about 100% when WLS fiber diameter is increased from 1.0 mm to 1.6 mm. The position dependence measurement along the strip scintillator showed the uniformity of light transmission from the sensor to the PMT. A dip across the strip is observed which is 40% of the maximum pulse height. The block type scintillator pulse height, on the other hand, is found to be almost proportional to scintillator thickness. (author)

Development of multi-color scintillator based X-ray image intensifier

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nittoh, Koichi; Konagai, Chikara; Noji, Takashi

2004-01-01

A multi-color scintillator based high-sensitive, wide dynamic range and long-life X-ray image intensifier has been developed. An europium activated Y 2 O 2 S scintillator, emitting red, green and blue photons of different intensities, is utilized as the output fluorescent screen of the intensifier. By combining this image intensifier with a suitably tuned high sensitive color CCD camera, it is possible for a sensitivity of the red color component to become six times higher than that of the conventional image intensifier. Simultaneous emission of a moderate green color and a weak blue color covers different sensitivity regions. This widens the dynamic range, by nearly two orders of ten. With this image intensifier, it is possible to image simultaneously complex objects containing various different X-ray transmission from paper, water or plastic to heavy metals. This high sensitivity intensifier, operated at lower X-ray exposure, causes less degradation of scintillator materials and less colorization of output screen glass, and thus helps achieve a longer lifetime. This color scintillator based image intensifier is being introduced for X-ray inspection in various fields

Equatorial All Sky Imager Images from the Seychelles during the March 17th, 2015 geomagnetic storm.

Science.gov (United States)

Curtis, B.

2015-12-01

An all sky imager was installed in the Seychelles earlier this year. The Seychelles islands are located northeast of Madagascar and east of Somalia in the equatorial Indian Ocean. The all sky imager is located on the island of Mahe (4.6667°S, 55.4667°E geographic), (10.55°S, 127.07°E geomagnetic), with filters of 557.7, 620.0, 630.0, 765.0 and 777.4 nm. Images with a 90 second exposure from Seychelles in 777.4nm and 630.0nm from the night before and night of the March 17th geomagnetic storm are discussed in comparison to solar wind measurements at ACE and the disturbance storm time (Dst) index. These images show line-of-sight intensities of photons received dependent on each filters wavelength. A time series of these images sometimes will show the movement of relatively dark areas, or depletions, in each emission. The depletion regions are known to cause scintillation in GPS signals. The direction and speed of movement of these depletions are related to changes observed in the solar wind.

Radiation damage in plastic scintillators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Majewski, S.

1990-01-01

Results of radiation damage studies in plastic scintillators are reviewed and critically analyzed from the point of view of applications of plastic scintillators in calorimetric detectors for the SSC. Damage to transmission and to fluorescent yield in different conditions is discussed. New directions in R ampersand D are outlined. Several examples are given of the most recent data on the new scintillating materials made with old and new plastics and fluors, which are exhibiting significantly improved radiation resistance. With a present rate of a vigorous R D programme, the survival limits in the vicinity of 100 MRad seem to be feasible within a couple of years

Applications of liquid scintillation tubes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Broga, D.W.

1977-01-01

A new cocktail containing device for liquid scintillation counting, the scintillation tube, consists of a two-layered plastic bag which is heatsealed after the cocktail and sample have been placed in it. It is then placed in a carrying vial and counted in a conventional liquid scintillation counter. These tubes have proved to be a practical and economical alternative to vials. Some of their advantages are elimination of absorption problems, transparency, lower background and higher counting efficiency, low breakage danger and savings in waste disposal costs. Two applications for which the tubes are particularly suitable are the counting of laboratory swipes and urine analysis. (author)

New liquid scintillators for fiber-optic applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lutz, S.S.; Franks, L.A.; Flournoy, J.M.; Lyons, P.B.

1981-01-01

New long-wavelength-emitting, high-speed, liquid scintillators have been developed and tailored specifically for plasma diagnostic experiments employing fiber optics. These scintillators offer significant advantages over commercially available plastic scintillators in terms of sensitivity and bandwidth. FWHM response times as fast as 350 ps have been measured. Emission spectra, time response data, and relative sensitivity information are presented

Photonic crystal scintillators and methods of manufacture

Science.gov (United States)

Torres, Ricardo D.; Sexton, Lindsay T.; Fuentes, Roderick E.; Cortes-Concepcion, Jose

2015-08-11

Photonic crystal scintillators and their methods of manufacture are provided. Exemplary methods of manufacture include using a highly-ordered porous anodic alumina membrane as a pattern transfer mask for either the etching of underlying material or for the deposition of additional material onto the surface of a scintillator. Exemplary detectors utilizing such photonic crystal scintillators are also provided.

Methods for a systematic, comprehensive search for fast, heavy scintillator materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Derenzo, S.E.; Moses, W.W.; Weber, M.J.; West, A.C.

1994-01-01

Over the years a number of scintillator materials have been developed for a wide variety of nuclear detection applications in industry, high energy physics, and medical instrumentation. To expand the list of useful scintillators, the authors are pursuing the following systematic, comprehensive search: (1) select materials with good gamma-ray interaction properties from the 200,000 data set NIST crystal diffraction file, (2) synthesize samples (doped and undoped) in powdered or single crystal form, (3) test the samples using sub-nanosecond pulsed x-rays to measure important scintillation properties such as rise times, decay times, emission wavelengths, and light output, (4) prepare large, high quality crystals of the most promising candidates, and (5) test the crystals as gamma-ray detectors in representative configurations. An important parallel effort is the computation of electronic energy levels of activators and the band structure of intrinsic and host crystals to aid in the materials selection process. In this paper the authors interested mainly in scintillator materials for detecting 511 keV gamma rays in positron emission tomography

Variability in equatorial B0 and B1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adeniyi, J.O.; Radicella, S.M.

2002-01-01

Variability of ionospheric profile parameters B0 and B1, below the F2 peak is investigated for an equatorial station at two levels of solar activities. The whole 24 hours of the day and the four seasons of the year are covered. Absolute and relative variability indices were utilized in the study. Some evidences of correlations of variability index and profiles parameters were observed. Daytime values of relative variability in B1 at solar minimum were found to be greater than those of solar maximum. (author)

Investigation of organic liquid-scintillator optical properties

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Winter, Juergen; Feilitzsch, Franz von; Goeger-Neff, Marianne; Lewke, Timo; Meindl, Quirin; Oberauer, Lothar; Potzel, Walter; Todor, Sebastian; Wurm, Michael [Physik Department E15, Technische Universitaet Muenchen, James-Franck-Str., 85748 Garching (Germany); Marrodan Undagoitia, Teresa [Physik Department E15, Technische Universitaet Muenchen, James-Franck-Str., 85748 Garching (Germany); Physik-Institut, Universitaet Zuerich (Switzerland)

2009-07-01

The characterization of different organic liquid-scintillator mixtures is an important step towards the design of a large-scale detector such as LENA (Low Energy Neutrino Astronomy). Its physics goals, extending from particle and geological to astrophysical issues, set high demands on the optical properties of the liquid scintillator. Therefore, small-scale experiments are carried out in order to optimize the final scintillator mixture. PXE, LAB, and dodecane are under consideration as solvents. Setups for the determination of scintillator properties are presented, such as attenuation length, light yield, emission spectra, fluorescence decay times, and quenching factors. Furthermore, results are discussed.

Radiation-induced chemical processes in polystyrene scintillators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Milinchuk, V.K.; Bolbit, N.M.; Klinshpont, E.R.; Tupikov, V.I.; Zhdanov, G.S.; Taraban, S.B.; Shelukhov, I.P.; Smoljanskii, A.S.

1999-01-01

The regularities established for macroradical accumulation and intensity of radioluminescence under γ-irradiation of a polystyrene scintillator prove benzyl macroradicals to be efficient quenchers of the excited scintillator molecules. Dissolved oxygen was determined to have a constant of the quenching rate 100 times lower than that of macroradicals. Oxygen is an efficient antirad because of participating in oxidation reactions and subsequent recombination of macroradicals. The method was developed to obtain a polymeric scintillator with a polystyrene matrix containing a dispersed system of pores and channels. Radiation resistance of such a scintillator is 5-10 times higher than that of standard types

Performance comparison of scintillators for alpha particle detectors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Morishita, Yuki [Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya University, 1-1-20 Daiko-Minami, Higashi-ku, Nagoya, Aichi 461-8673 (Japan); Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Muramatsu 4-33, Tokai-mura, Ibaraki 319-1194 (Japan); Yamamoto, Seiichi [Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya University, 1-1-20 Daiko-Minami, Higashi-ku, Nagoya, Aichi 461-8673 (Japan); Izaki, Kenji [Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Muramatsu 4-33, Tokai-mura, Ibaraki 319-1194 (Japan); Kaneko, Junichi H.; Toui, Kohei; Tsubota, Youichi; Higuchi, Mikio [Graduate School of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Kita 13, Nishi 8, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-8628 (Japan)

2014-11-11

Scintillation detectors for alpha particles are often used in nuclear fuel facilities. Alpha particle detectors have also become important in the research field of radionuclide therapy using alpha emitters. ZnS(Ag) is the most often used scintillator for alpha particle detectors because its light output is high. However, the energy resolution of ZnS(Ag)-based scintillation detectors is poor because they are not transparent. A new ceramic sample, namely the cerium doped Gd{sub 2}Si{sub 2}O{sub 7} (GPS) scintillator, has been tested as alpha particle detector and its performances have been compared to that one of three different scintillating materials: ZnS(Ag), GAGG and a standard plastic scintillator. The different scintillating materials have been coupled to two different photodetectors, namely a photomultiplier tube (PMT) and a Silicon Photo-multiplier (Si-PM): the performances of each detection system have been compared. Promising results as far as the energy resolution performances (10% with PMT and 14% with Si-PM) have been obtained in the case of GPS and GAGG samples. Considering the quantum efficiencies of the photodetectors under test and their relation to the emission wavelength of the different scintillators, the best results were achieved coupling the GPS with the PMT and the GAGG with the Si-PM.

Development of scintillation materials for PET scanners

CERN Document Server

Korzhik, Mikhail; Annenkov, Alexander N; Borissevitch, Andrei; Dossovitski, Alexei; Missevitch, Oleg; Lecoq, Paul

2007-01-01

The growing demand on PET methodology for a variety of applications ranging from clinical use to fundamental studies triggers research and development of PET scanners providing better spatial resolution and sensitivity. These efforts are primarily focused on the development of advanced PET detector solutions and on the developments of new scintillation materials as well. However Lu containing scintillation materials introduced in the last century such as LSO, LYSO, LuAP, LuYAP crystals still remain the best PET species in spite of the recent developments of bright, fast but relatively low density lanthanum bromide scintillators. At the same time Lu based materials have several drawbacks which are high temperature of crystallization and relatively high cost compared to alkali-halide scintillation materials. Here we describe recent results in the development of new scintillation materials for PET application.

Comparison of plastic scintillating fibres and capillaries filled with liquid scintillator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cardini, A.; Cavasinni, V.; Girolamo, B. di; Flaminio, V.; Golovkin, S.V.; Gorin, A.M.; Kulichenko, A.V.; Kushnirenko, A.E.; Pyshev, A.I.; Manuilov, I.; Vasilchenko, V.G.

1994-01-01

A comparison is made between the light yield, attenuation length, time response and light propagation speed in plastic scintillating fibres (SCSF-38 and Kuraray-3HF) and quartz capillaries filled with liquid scintillator (LS) 1-methilnaphthalene (1MN) doped with new dyes R45 and R39. The inner diameter of capillaries and diameter of plastic fibres is 0.5 mm. The number of photoelectrons detected at the far end (2 m) was 2.9 for capillaries filled with 1MN+3 g/l R45 while it was 1.8 times smaller in the case of SCSF-38 and 3 times smaller in the case of Kuraray 3HF plastic fibres. Taking into account the quantum efficiency of the photodetector used these reduction factors became 3.0 and 2.0, respectively. Good attenuation length, high light output and also excellent radiation resistance of capillaries filled with LS (>60 Mrad, measured elsewhere) show that they are a very promising alternative to plastic scintillating fibres for future applications in tracking detectors and calorimeters. ((orig.))

Scintillation proximity assay

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hart, H.

1980-01-01

In a method of immunological assay two different classes of particles which interact at short distances to produce characteristic detectable signals are employed in a modification of the usual latex fixation test. In one embodiment an aqueous suspension of antigen coated tritiated latex particles (LH) and antigen coated polystyrene scintillant particles (L*) is employed to assay antibody in the aqueous medium. The amount of (LH) (L*) dimer formation and higher order aggregation induced and therefore the concentration of antibody (or antigen) present which caused the aggregation can be determined by using standard liquid scintillation counting equipment. (author)

Determination of 226Ra and 224Ra in drinking waters by liquid scintillation counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Manjon, G.; Vioque, I.; Moreno, H.; Garcia-Tenorio, R.; Garcia-Leon, M.

1997-01-01

A method for the determination of Ra-isotopes in water samples has been developed. Ra is coprecipitated with Ba as sulphate. The precipitate is then dissolved with EDTA and counted with a liquid scintillation system after mixing with a scintillation cocktail. The study of the temporal evolution of the separated activity gives the isotopic composition of the sample, i.e. the 224 Ra and 226 Ra contribution to the total activity. The method has been applied to some Spanish drinking waters. (author)

Estimation of Fano factor in inorganic scintillators

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bora, Vaibhav, E-mail: bora.vaibhav@gmail.com [Center for Gamma-Ray Imaging, Department of Medical Imaging, University of Arizona and College of Optical Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85724 (United States); Barrett, Harrison H., E-mail: barrett@radiology.arizona.edu [Center for Gamma-Ray Imaging, Department of Medical Imaging, University of Arizona and College of Optical Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85724 (United States); Fastje, David, E-mail: dfastje@gmail.com [Center for Gamma-Ray Imaging, Department of Medical Imaging, University of Arizona and College of Optical Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85724 (United States); Clarkson, Eric, E-mail: clarkson@radiology.arizona.edu [Center for Gamma-Ray Imaging, Department of Medical Imaging, University of Arizona and College of Optical Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85724 (United States); Furenlid, Lars, E-mail: furen@radiology.arizona.edu [Center for Gamma-Ray Imaging, Department of Medical Imaging, University of Arizona and College of Optical Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85724 (United States); Bousselham, Abdelkader, E-mail: abousselham@qf.org.qa [Qatar Foundation, QEERI, P.O. Box 5825, Doha (Qatar); Shah, Kanai S., E-mail: kanaishah@yahoo.com [Radiation Monitoring Devices, Inc., Watertown, MA 02472 (United States); Glodo, Jarek, E-mail: jglodo@rmdinc.com [Radiation Monitoring Devices, Inc., Watertown, MA 02472 (United States)

2016-01-01

The Fano factor of an integer-valued random variable is defined as the ratio of its variance to its mean. Correlation between the outputs of two photomultiplier tubes on opposite faces of a scintillation crystal was used to estimate the Fano factor of photoelectrons and scintillation photons. Correlations between the integrals of the detector outputs were used to estimate the photoelectron and photon Fano factor for YAP:Ce, SrI{sub 2}:Eu and CsI:Na scintillator crystals. At 662 keV, SrI{sub 2}:Eu was found to be sub-Poisson, while CsI:Na and YAP:Ce were found to be super-Poisson. An experiment setup inspired from the Hanbury Brown and Twiss experiment was used to measure the correlations as a function of time between the outputs of two photomultiplier tubes looking at the same scintillation event. A model of the scintillation and the detection processes was used to generate simulated detector outputs as a function of time for different values of Fano factor. The simulated outputs from the model for different Fano factors was compared to the experimentally measured detector outputs to estimate the Fano factor of the scintillation photons for YAP:Ce, LaBr{sub 3}:Ce scintillator crystals. At 662 keV, LaBr{sub 3}:Ce was found to be sub-Poisson, while YAP:Ce was found to be close to Poisson.

Conference on Engineering of Scintillation Materials and Radiation Technologies

CERN Document Server

Gektin, Alexander

2017-01-01

This volume provides a broad overview of the latest achievements in scintillator development, from theory to applications, and aiming for a deeper understanding of fundamental processes, as well as the discovery and availability of components for the production of new generations of scintillation materials. It includes papers on the microtheory of scintillation and the initial phase of luminescence development, applications of the various materials, and development and characterization of ionizing radiation detection equipment. The book also touches upon the increased demand for cryogenic scintillators, the renaissance of  garnet materials for scintillator applications, nano-structuring in scintillator development, development and applications for security, and exploration of hydrocarbons and ecological monitoring.

Measurements of energy resolution with hemispheric scintillators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mendonca, A.C.S.; Binns, D.A.C.; Tauhata, L.; Poledna, R.

1980-01-01

The hemispheric configuration is used for plastic scintillators type NE 102 with the aiming to optimize the light collect. Scintillators at this configuration, with radii of 3,81 cm and 2,54 cm, are showing improvement about 16-17% in the energy resolution, on cilyndric scintillators with the same volume, for gamma rays of 511-1275 KeV. (E.G.) [pt

Time resolution research in liquid scintillating detection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

He Hongkun; Shi Haoshan

2006-01-01

The signal processing design method is introduced into liquid scintillating detection system design. By analyzing the signal of liquid scintillating detection, improving time resolution is propitious to upgrade efficiency of detecting. The scheme of realization and satisfactory experiment data is demonstrated. Besides other types of liquid scintillating detection is the same, just using more high speed data signal processing techniques and elements. (authors)

Composite scintillators for detection of ionizing radiation

Science.gov (United States)

Dai, Sheng [Knoxville, TN; Stephan, Andrew Curtis [Knoxville, TN; Brown, Suree S [Knoxville, TN; Wallace, Steven A [Knoxville, TN; Rondinone, Adam J [Knoxville, TN

2010-12-28

Applicant's present invention is a composite scintillator having enhanced transparency for detecting ionizing radiation comprising a material having optical transparency wherein said material comprises nano-sized objects having a size in at least one dimension that is less than the wavelength of light emitted by the composite scintillator wherein the composite scintillator is designed to have selected properties suitable for a particular application.

Modelling the development of mixing height in near equatorial region

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Samah, A.A. [Univ. of Malaya, Air Pollution Research Unit, Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)

1997-10-01

Most current air pollution models were developed for mid-latitude conditions and as such many of the empirical parameters used were based on observations taken in the mid-latitude boundary layer which is physically different from that of the equatorial boundary layer. In the equatorial boundary layer the Coriolis parameter f is small or zero and moisture plays a more important role in the control of stability and the surface energy balance. Therefore air pollution models such as the OMLMULTI or the ADMS which were basically developed for mid-latitude conditions must be applied with some caution and would need some adaptation to properly simulate the properties of equatorial boundary layer. This work elucidates some of the problems of modelling the evolution of mixing height in the equatorial region. The mixing height estimates were compared with routine observations taken during a severe air pollution episodes in Malaysia. (au)

Novel scintillating material 2-(4-styrylphenyl)benzoxazole for the fully digital and MRI compatible J-PET tomograph based on plastic scintillators.

Science.gov (United States)

Wieczorek, Anna; Dulski, Kamil; Niedźwiecki, Szymon; Alfs, Dominika; Białas, Piotr; Curceanu, Catalina; Czerwiński, Eryk; Danel, Andrzej; Gajos, Aleksander; Głowacz, Bartosz; Gorgol, Marek; Hiesmayr, Beatrix; Jasińska, Bożena; Kacprzak, Krzysztof; Kamińska, Daria; Kapłon, Łukasz; Kochanowski, Andrzej; Korcyl, Grzegorz; Kowalski, Paweł; Kozik, Tomasz; Krzemień, Wojciech; Kubicz, Ewelina; Kucharek, Mateusz; Mohammed, Muhsin; Pawlik-Niedźwiecka, Monika; Pałka, Marek; Raczyński, Lech; Rudy, Zbigniew; Rundel, Oleksandr; Sharma, Neha G; Silarski, Michał; Uchacz, Tomasz; Wiślicki, Wojciech; Zgardzińska, Bożena; Zieliński, Marcin; Moskal, Paweł

2017-01-01

A novel plastic scintillator is developed for the application in the digital positron emission tomography (PET). The novelty of the concept lies in application of the 2-(4-styrylphenyl)benzoxazole as a wavelength shifter. The substance has not been used as scintillator dopant before. A dopant shifts the scintillation spectrum towards longer wavelengths making it more suitable for applications in scintillators of long strips geometry and light detection with digital silicon photomultipliers. These features open perspectives for the construction of the cost-effective and MRI-compatible PET scanner with the large field of view. In this article we present the synthesis method and characterize performance of the elaborated scintillator by determining its light emission spectrum, light emission efficiency, rising and decay time of the scintillation pulses and resulting timing resolution when applied in the positron emission tomography. The optimal concentration of the novel wavelength shifter was established by maximizing the light output and it was found to be 0.05 ‰ for cuboidal scintillator with dimensions of 14 mm x 14 mm x 20 mm.

Scintillator structure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cusano, D.A.; Prener, J.S.

1979-01-01

A scintillator structure comprises at least one layer of transparent fused quartz with a phosphor coating on one or both sides adjacent to at least one transparent layer of epoxy resin which directs light from the phosphor to a detector. The phosphor layer may be formed from a powder optionally with a binder, a single crystal or a melt, or by evaporation or sintering. A plurality of multiple layers may be used or the structure tilted for greater absorption. The structure may be surrounded by another such structure optionally operating in cascade with the first. Many phosphors are specified. A scintillator structure comprises phosphor particles dispersed in epoxy resin or copoly imide-silicone and cast in a multi-compartment box with long sides transparent to X-rays and dividers opaque to X-rays. (UK)

Statistical evaluation of GLONASS amplitude scintillation over low latitudes in the Brazilian territory

Science.gov (United States)

de Oliveira Moraes, Alison; Muella, Marcio T. A. H.; de Paula, Eurico R.; de Oliveira, César B. A.; Terra, William P.; Perrella, Waldecir J.; Meibach-Rosa, Pâmela R. P.

2018-04-01

The ionospheric scintillation, generated by the ionospheric plasma irregularities, affects the radio signals that pass through it. Their effects are widely studied in the literature with two different approaches. The first one deals with the use of radio signals to study and understand the morphology of this phenomenon, while the second one seeks to understand and model how much this phenomenon interferes in the radio signals and consequently in the services to which these systems work. The interest of several areas, particularly to those that are life critical, has increased using the concept of satellite multi-constellation, which consists of receiving, processing and using data from different navigation and positioning systems. Although there is a vast literature analyzing the effects of ionospheric scintillation on satellite navigation systems, the number of studies using signals received from the Russian satellite positioning system (named GLONASS) is still very rare. This work presents for the first time in the Brazilian low-latitude sector a statistical analysis of ionospheric scintillation data for all levels of magnetic activities obtained by a set of scintillation monitors that receive signals from the GLONASS system. In this study, data collected from four stations were used in the analysis; Fortaleza, Presidente Prudente, São José dos Campos and Porto Alegre. The GLONASS L-band signals were analyzed for the period from December 21, 2012 to June 20, 2016, which includes the peak of the solar cycle 24 that occurred in 2014. The main characteristics of scintillation presented in this study include: (1) the statistical evaluation of seasonal and solar activity, showing the chances that an user on similar geophysical conditions may be susceptible to the effects of ionospheric scintillation; (2) a temporal analysis based on the local time distribution of scintillation at different seasons and intensity levels; and (3) the evaluation of number of

Upconverting nanoparticles for optimizing scintillator based detection systems

Science.gov (United States)

Kross, Brian; McKisson, John E; McKisson, John; Weisenberger, Andrew; Xi, Wenze; Zom, Carl

2013-09-17

An upconverting device for a scintillation detection system is provided. The detection system comprises a scintillator material, a sensor, a light transmission path between the scintillator material and the sensor, and a plurality of upconverting nanoparticles particles positioned in the light transmission path.

SBIR Final Report. Liquid Core Optical Scintillating Fibers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beetz, C.P.; Steinbeck, J.; Buerstler, R.

2000-01-01

This Phase I SBIR project focused on developing flexible scintillating liquid core optical fibers, with potential uses in high-energy calorimetry, tracking, preradiators, active targets or other fast detectors. Progress on the six tasks of the project is summarized. The technical developments involve three technology components: (1) highly flexible capillaries or tubes of relatively low n (index of refraction) to serve as cladding and liquid core containment; (2) scintillator (and clear) fluids of relatively high n to serve as a core-- these fluids must have a high light transmission and, for some applications, radiation hardness; (3) optical end plugs, plug insertion, and plug-cladding tube sealing technology to contain the core fluids in the tubes, and to transmit the light

Scintillation-Hardened GPS Receiver

Science.gov (United States)

Stephens, Donald R.

2015-01-01

CommLargo, Inc., has developed a scintillation-hardened Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver that improves reliability for low-orbit missions and complies with NASA's Space Telecommunications Radio System (STRS) architecture standards. A software-defined radio (SDR) implementation allows a single hardware element to function as either a conventional radio or as a GPS receiver, providing backup and redundancy for platforms such as the International Space Station (ISS) and high-value remote sensing platforms. The innovation's flexible SDR implementation reduces cost, weight, and power requirements. Scintillation hardening improves mission reliability and variability. In Phase I, CommLargo refactored an open-source GPS software package with Kalman filter-based tracking loops to improve performance during scintillation and also demonstrated improved navigation during a geomagnetic storm. In Phase II, the company generated a new field-programmable gate array (FPGA)-based GPS waveform to demonstrate on NASA's Space Communication and Navigation (SCaN) test bed.

Background characterization in a liquid scintillation spectrometer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rodriguez Barquero, L.; Los Arcos, J.M.; Jimenez de Mingo, A.

1995-01-01

An alternate procedure for background count rate estimation in a liquid scintillation spectrometer is presented, which does not require to measure a blank with similar composition, volume and quench, to the problem sample. The procedure is based on a double linear parameterization which was obtained from a systematic study of the background observed with glass vials, in three different windows, 0 - 20 KeV, 0 - 800 KeV and 0 - 2 MeV, for volume between 2 and 20 mi of three commercial scintillators, Hisafe II, Ultima-Gold and Instagel, and quenching degree in the interval equivalent to 50% - 3% tritium efficiency. This procedure was tested with standard samples of 3H, and led to average discrepancies less than 10% for activity ≥0,6 Bq, against conventional methods for which the discrepancies are twice on average. (Author) 10 refs

Background characterization in a liquid scintillation spectrometer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rodriguez Barquero, L.; Los arcos, J.M.; Jimenez de Mingo, A.

1995-01-01

An alternate procedure for background count rate estimation in a liquid scintillation spectrometer is presented, which does not require to measure a blank with similar composition, volume and quench, to the problem sample. The procedure is based on a double linear parameterization which was obtained from a systematic study of the background observed with glass vials, in three different windows, 0-20 KeV, 0-800 KeV and 0-2 MeV, for volume between 2 and 20 ml of three commercial scintillators, Hisafe II, Ultima-gold and Instagel, and quenching degree in the interval equivalent to 50%-3% tritium efficiency. This procedure was tested with standard samples of ''3 H, and led to average discrepancies less than 10% for activity => 0,6 Bq, against conventional methods for which the discrepancies are twice on average

Liquid scintillation alpha particle spectrometry. Progress report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bell, L.L.; Hakooz, S.A.; Johnson, L.O.; Nieschmidt, E.B.; Meikrantz, D.H.

1979-12-01

Objective to develop a technique whereby Pu may be put into solution, extracted by solvent extraction into a suitable extractive scintillant and subsequently counted. Presented here are results of attempts to separate beta and alpha activities through pulse shape discrimination. A qualitative discussion is given which yields alpha particle peak widths, resolution and response. The detection efficiency for alpha particles in a liquid scintillant is 100%. Present detection sensitivities of the equipment being used are: 4.5 x 10 -6 μCi (100 s), 1.2 x 10 -6 μCi (1000 s), and 4.0 x 10 -7 μCi (10,000 s) at the 3 sigma level. The detectability of a particular alpha-emitting species is strongly dependent upon the population of other species. The ability to discriminate depends upon the system resolution. 14 figures, 2 tables

A user's guide to scintillation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hewish, A.

1989-01-01

During the past four decades scintillation methods have been used for remote-sensing distant plasmas and for providing high angular resolution in radioastronomy. This brief review illustrates some of the techniques employed and explains the underlying theory in simple physical terms; it is not intended to be a complete survey of all applications of scintillation. (author)

Laser Beam Scintillation with Applications

CERN Document Server

Andrews, Larry C; Young, Cynthia

2001-01-01

Renewed interest in laser communication systems has sparked development of useful new analytic models. This book discusses optical scintillation and its impact on system performance in free-space optical communication and laser radar applications, with a detailed look at propagation phenomena and the role of scintillation on system behavior. Intended for practicing engineers, scientists, and students.

Position-Sensitive Organic Scintillation Detectors for Nuclear Material Accountancy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hausladen, P.; Newby, J.; Blackston, M.

2015-01-01

Recent years have seen renewed interest in fast organic scintillators with pulse shape properties that enable neutron-gamma discrimination, in part because of the present shortage of He3, but primarily because of the diagnostic value of timing and pulse height information available from such scintillators. Effort at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) associated with fast organic scintillators has concentrated on development of position-sensitive fast-neutron detectors for imaging applications. Two aspects of this effort are of interest. First, the development has revisited the fundamental limitations on pulseshape measurement imposed by photon counting statistics, properties of the scintillator, and properties of photomultiplier amplification. This idealized limit can then be used to evaluate the performance of the detector combined with data acquisition and analysis such as free-running digitizers with embedded algorithms. Second, the development of position sensitive detectors has enabled a new generation of fast-neutron imaging instruments and techniques with sufficient resolution to give new capabilities relevant to safeguards. Toward this end, ORNL has built and demonstrated a number of passive and active fast-neutron imagers, including a proof-of-concept passive imager capable of resolving individual fuel pins in an assembly via their neutron emanations. This presentation will describe the performance and construction of position-sensing fast-neutron detectors and present results of imaging measurements. (author)

Liquid scintillation counting techniques for the determination of some alpha emitting actinides: a review

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mirashi, N.N.; Chander, Keshav; Aggarwal, S.K.

2000-12-01

The present report is a review of the work on liquid scintillation counting techniques, for the determination of alpha emitting actinides like uranium, plutonium, americium etc; for the last three decades (1970-1999). It covers the progress that has taken place in conventional liquid scintillation counting employing various solvents, scintillators and extractants. There is gradual development in instrumentation from integral counting of alpha emitters to alpha liquid scintillation spectrometry to resolve and identify different alpha emitters. These advancements have led to Pulse Shape Analysis (PSA) and Photon Electron Rejecting Alpha Liquid Scintillation Spectrometry (PERALS) techniques for the determination of the alpha emitters in the presence of beta and gamma activity. These techniques allow the determination of actinides at very low levels which has increased their applications to almost all the fields of chemistry; be it biomedical, environmental, geological or process chemistry of nuclear fuels. The development of biphasic technique using various extractants to separate different elements and counting in presence of one another has been made possible. Inorganic scintillators have been recently developed which have the advantage of eliminating effects of quenching and presence of beta/gamma emitting actinides. This review will serve as a reference to those who want to carry out work in the field of determination of actinides using liquid scintillation counting techniques. (author)

Comparative characteristics of polystyrene scintillation strips

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gapienko, V.A.; Denisov, A.G.; Mel'nikov, E.A.

1992-01-01

Results are provided for a study of the main characteristics of polystyrene scintillation strips with a cross-section of 200 x 10 mm with two different scintillation-additive compositions: 1.5% p-terphenyl + 0.01% POPOP and 1.5% p-terphenyl + 0.01% DBP. The mean light-attenuation lengths are 180 cm and 260 cm, respectively, for strips with POPOP and DBP. The emittances of the polystyrene scintillators with DBP and POPOP additives have a ratio of 0.8:1.0 as recorded by an FEU-110 photomultiplier. 2 refs., 1 fig., 2 tabs

Multi-frequency GNSS robust carrier tracking for ionospheric scintillation mitigation

Science.gov (United States)

Vilà-Valls, Jordi; Closas, Pau; Curran, James T.

2017-10-01

Ionospheric scintillation is the physical phenomena affecting radio waves propagating from the space through the ionosphere to earth. The signal distortion induced by scintillation can pose a major threat to some GNSS application. Scintillation is one of the more challenging propagation scenarios, particularly affecting high-precision GNSS receivers which require high quality carrier phase measurements; and safety critical applications which have strict accuracy, availability and integrity requirements. Under ionospheric scintillation conditions, GNSS signals are affected by fast amplitude and phase variations, which can compromise the receiver synchronization. To take into account the underlying correlation among different frequency bands, we propose a new multivariate autoregressive model (MAR) for the multi-frequency ionospheric scintillation process. Multi-frequency GNSS observations and the scintillation MAR are modeled in state-space, allowing independent tracking of both line-of-sight phase variations and complex gain scintillation components. The resulting joint synchronization and scintillation mitigation problem is solved using a robust nonlinear Kalman filter, validated using real multi-frequency scintillation data with encouraging results.

Liquid scintillation counting standardization of Na129I by the CIEMAT/NIST method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rodriguez Barquero, L.; Grau Carles, A.; Grau Malonda, A.

1996-01-01

We describe a sample preparation procedure for liquid scintillation measurements of stable solution of Na''129I. The counting stability and spectral evolution of this solution is studied in HiSafe''tmII, Ultima-Gold''tm and Insta-Gel''r. The liquid scintillation measurements have been carried efficiencies lower than 0.4%. the solution has been standardized in terms of activity concentration to an overall uncertainty of 0.46% (k=1 )

Test of tissue-equivalent scintillation detector for dose measurement of megavoltage beams

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Geso, M.; Ackerly, T.; Clift, M.A.

2000-01-01

Full text: The measurement of depth doses and profiles for a stereotactic radiotherapy beam presents special problems associated with the small beam size compared to the dosimeter's active detection area. In this work a locally fabricated organic plastic scintillator detector has been used to measure the depth dose and profile of a stereotactic radiotherapy beam. The 6MV beam is 1.25 cm diameter at isocentre, typical of small field stereotactic radiosurgery. The detector is a water/tissue equivalent plastic scintillator that is accompanied by Cerenkov subtraction detector. In this particular application, a negligible amount of Cerenkov light was detected. A photodiode and an electronic circuit is used instead of a photomultiplier for signal amplification. Comparison with data using a diode detector and a small size ionization chamber, indicate that the organic plastic scintillator detector is a valid detector for stereotactic radiosurgery dosimetry. The tissue equivalence of the organic scintillator also holds the promise of accurate dosimetry in the build up region. Depth doses measured using our plastic scintillator agree to within about 1% with those obtained using commercially available silicon diodes. Beam profiles obtained using plastic scintillator presents correct field width to within 0.35 mm, however some artifacts are visible in the profiles. These artifacts are about 5% discrepancy which has been shown not to be a significant factor in stereotactic radiotherapy dosimetry. Copyright (2000) Australasian College of Physical Scientists and Engineers in Medicine

Equatorial waves in the stratosphere of Uranus

Science.gov (United States)

Hinson, David P.; Magalhaes, Julio A.

1991-01-01

Analyses of radio occultation data from Voyager 2 have led to the discovery and characterization of an equatorial wave in the Uranus stratosphere. The observed quasi-periodic vertical atmospheric density variations are in close agreement with theoretical predictions for a wave that propagates vertically through the observed background structure of the stratosphere. Quantitative comparisons between measurements obtained at immersion and at emersion yielded constraints on the meridional and zonal structure of the wave; the fact that the two sets of measurements are correlated suggests a wave of planetary scale. Two equatorial wave models are proposed for the wave.

Deterministic joint remote preparation of an equatorial hybrid state via high-dimensional Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen pairs: active versus passive receiver

Science.gov (United States)

Bich, Cao Thi; Dat, Le Thanh; Van Hop, Nguyen; An, Nguyen Ba

2018-04-01

Entanglement plays a vital and in many cases non-replaceable role in the quantum network communication. Here, we propose two new protocols to jointly and remotely prepare a special so-called bipartite equatorial state which is hybrid in the sense that it entangles two Hilbert spaces with arbitrary different dimensions D and N (i.e., a type of entanglement between a quDit and a quNit). The quantum channels required to do that are however not necessarily hybrid. In fact, we utilize four high-dimensional Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen pairs, two of which are quDit-quDit entanglements, while the other two are quNit-quNit ones. In the first protocol the receiver has to be involved actively in the process of remote state preparation, while in the second protocol the receiver is passive as he/she needs to participate only in the final step for reconstructing the target hybrid state. Each protocol meets a specific circumstance that may be encountered in practice and both can be performed with unit success probability. Moreover, the concerned equatorial hybrid entangled state can also be jointly prepared for two receivers at two separated locations by slightly modifying the initial particles' distribution, thereby establishing between them an entangled channel ready for a later use.

Scintillation Detectors for Charged Particles and Photons

CERN Document Server

Lecoq, P

2011-01-01

Scintillation Detectors for Charged Particles and Photons in 'Charged Particle Detectors - Particle Detectors and Detector Systems', part of 'Landolt-Börnstein - Group I Elementary Particles, Nuclei and Atoms: Numerical Data and Functional Relationships in Science and Technology, Volume 21B1: Detectors for Particles and Radiation. Part 1: Principles and Methods'. This document is part of Part 1 'Principles and Methods' of Subvolume B 'Detectors for Particles and Radiation' of Volume 21 'Elementary Particles' of Landolt-Börnstein - Group I 'Elementary Particles, Nuclei and Atoms'. It contains the Subsection '3.1.1 Scintillation Detectors for Charged Particles and Photons' of Section '3.1 Charged Particle Detectors' of Chapter '3 Particle Detectors and Detector Systems' with the content: 3.1.1 Scintillation Detectors for Charged Particles and Photons 3.1.1.1 Basic detector principles and scintillator requirements 3.1.1.1.1 Interaction of ionizing radiation with scintillator material 3.1.1.1.2 Important scint...

Scintillation properties of CdF2 crystal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yanagida, Takayuki; Fujimoto, Yutaka; Koshimizu, Masanori; Fukuda, Kentaro

2015-01-01

CdF 2 single crystal was prepared by Tokuyama Corp. with the μ-PD method to investigate Auger free luminescence of this material. From optical transmittance spectrum, bandgap wavelength was around 280 nm. In X-ray induced radioluminescence spectrum, emission lines appeared around 350 nm and 420 nm. Excitation wavelength was investigated and excitation peak was around 250 nm. Photoluminescence and scintillation decay times were evaluated and decay time was few ns. Temperature dependence of X-ray induced radioluminescence was compared with conventional BaF 2 scintillator and scintillation of CdF 2 decreased when the temperature increased. Consequently, scintillation of CdF 2 is possibly emission at color centers or exciton related one. - Highlights: • CdF 2 crystal scinitillator was synthesized. • Emission wavelengths of CdF 2 appeared around 350 and 420 nm. • Scintillation decay time of CdF 2 was quite fast, 1.75 ns. • Excitation bands were investigated by using Synchrotron facility, UVSOR

Pacific Equatorial Transect

OpenAIRE

Pälike, Heiko; Nishi, Hiroshi; Lyle, Mitch; Raffi, Isabella; Klaus, Adam; Gamage, Kusali

2009-01-01

Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 320/321, "Pacific Equatorial Age Transect" (Sites U1331–U1338), was designed to recover a continuous Cenozoic record of the paleoequatorial Pacific by coring above the paleoposition of the Equator at successive crustal ages on the Pacific plate. These sediments record the evolution of the paleoequatorial climate system throughout the Cenozoic. As we gained more information about the past movement of plates and when in Earth's history "critical" cli...

Study of nonproportionality in the light yield of inorganic scintillators

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Singh, Jai [School of Engineering and IT, B-purple-12, Faculty of EHSE, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory 0909 (Australia)

2011-07-15

Using a phenomenological approach, the light yield is derived for inorganic scintillators as a function of the rates of linear, bimolecular, and Auger processes occurring in the electron track initiated by an x ray or a {gamma}-ray photon. A relation between the track length and incident energy is also derived. It is found that the nonproportionality in the light yield can be eliminated if either nonlinear processes of interaction among the excited electrons, holes, and excitons can be eliminated from occurring or the high density situation can be relieved by diffusion of carriers from the track at a faster rate than the rate of activation of nonlinear processes. The influence of the track length and radius on the yield nonproportionality is discussed in view of the known experimental results. Inventing new inorganic scintillating materials with high carrier mobility can lead to a class of proportional inorganic scintillators. Results agree qualitatively with experimental results for the dependence of light yield on the incident energy.

Study of nonproportionality in the light yield of inorganic scintillators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Singh, Jai

2011-01-01

Using a phenomenological approach, the light yield is derived for inorganic scintillators as a function of the rates of linear, bimolecular, and Auger processes occurring in the electron track initiated by an x ray or a γ-ray photon. A relation between the track length and incident energy is also derived. It is found that the nonproportionality in the light yield can be eliminated if either nonlinear processes of interaction among the excited electrons, holes, and excitons can be eliminated from occurring or the high density situation can be relieved by diffusion of carriers from the track at a faster rate than the rate of activation of nonlinear processes. The influence of the track length and radius on the yield nonproportionality is discussed in view of the known experimental results. Inventing new inorganic scintillating materials with high carrier mobility can lead to a class of proportional inorganic scintillators. Results agree qualitatively with experimental results for the dependence of light yield on the incident energy.

Radiation converter scintillator screen and its manufacturing process

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Delattre, D.; Rougeot, H.; Tassin, C.

1984-01-01

The present invention concerns scintillating screens receiving X or gamma radiation and converting it in luminous photons. The screen comprises a needle structure scintillating material. Its concave surface is quite smooth. The screen is obtained by evaporation on a frame having a perfectly smooth convex surface; the constituting material has a thermal dilatation coefficient different from the scintillating material one. After evaporation, the scintillating screen is set apart from the frame by simple heating. It is used for radiological image intensifier tubes and scintigraphy tubes [fr

Diagnosing the Growth of Equatorial Typhoon Vamei (2001 from an Energy Standpoint

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gin-Rong Liu

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Surprisingly, on 27 December 2001, a storm named Typhoon Vamei formed near in Singaporean waters. An examination on the SSM/I-derived rainfall rates and air-sea parameters showed that significant higher latent heat release and air-sea energy flux during convective rainfall activities played a key role in the typhoon¡¦s growth. A quantitative analysis revealed that the energy flux from the ocean to the atmosphere and the latent heat release during the rainfall activities both increased significantly during the initial growth stage. However, the values rapidly decreased just before the storm reached typhoon strength. Separately, in contrast to a case that occurred in 1999, the total thermal energy calculated from Typhoon Vamei¡¦s formation was two times higher. Thus, despite a very weak Coriolis force in the equatorial belt, the special terrain of Borneo Island and narrow channel in the equatorial South China Sea caused a Borneo vortex via northeasterly cold surges, together with the accumulated energy was sufficiently strong enough to induce the formation of Typhoon Vamei.

Design of Fluorescent Compounds for Scintillation Detection

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pla-Dalmau, Anna [Northern Illinois U.

1990-01-01

Plastic scintillation detectors for high energy physics applications require the development of new fluorescent compounds to meet the demands set by the future generation of particle accelerators such as the Superconducting Supercollider (SSe). Plastic scintillators are commonly based on a polymer matrix doped with two fluorescent compounds: the primary dopant and the wavelength shifter. Their main characteristics are fast response time and high quantum efficiency. The exposure to larger radiation doses and demands for larger light output questions their survivability in the future experiments. A new type of plastic scintillator - intrinsic scintillator - has been suggested. It uses a single dopant as primary and wavelength shifter, and should be less susceptible to radiation damage....

Liquid scintillation in medical diagnosis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Painter, K.

1976-01-01

With the tremendous increase in the application of radioassay, particularly radioimmunoassay, in the clinical laboratory liquid scintillation counting became an indispensable tool in diagnostic medicine. Few publications, however, have concerned themselves with problem areas which occur with the method in the clinical laboratory. The purpose of this presentation is to summarize our experiences with the liquid scintillation technique in the clinical situation

Hybrid scintillators for neutron discrimination

Science.gov (United States)

Feng, Patrick L; Cordaro, Joseph G; Anstey, Mitchell R; Morales, Alfredo M

2015-05-12

A composition capable of producing a unique scintillation response to neutrons and gamma rays, comprising (i) at least one surfactant; (ii) a polar hydrogen-bonding solvent; and (iii) at least one luminophore. A method including combining at least one surfactant, a polar hydrogen-bonding solvent and at least one luminophore in a scintillation cell under vacuum or an inert atmosphere.

Polyethylene vials for liquid scintillation counters produced by the National Materials Research Institute

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fiser, B.; Lukas, D.

1984-01-01

The properties were tested of polyethylene vials for liquid scintillation counters manufactured by the National Materials Research Institute. Liquid scintillation counter ISOCAP 300 by Nuclear Chicago was used for measuring. For unquenched samples, channel A was set up to 0.5-3.6 keV and channel B to 0.5-18 keV. The scintillation solution was prepared of toluene, 4 g PPO, 0.15 g POPOP per 1 l of toluene. CCl 4 was used as the quenching agent. Radioactive samples were prepared from 20 μl of standard solution of [ 3 H]-toluene with specific activity of 349 Bq/g. All measurements were made using a 7 ml scintillation solution into which radioactivity and possibly quenching agents were added. Potassium-free glass vials by SKLO UNION Teplice and thin-walled polyethylene vials by Nuclear Chicago were used for comparison. The background was measured, as were the time dependences of weight losses of the scintillation solution and carbon tetrachloride from the counting vials, changes in efficiency in channel B with time, changes in SCR with time and changes in the quenching curve with time. (E.S.)

Scintillating camera

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vlasbloem, H.

1976-01-01

The invention relates to a scintillating camera and in particular to an apparatus for determining the position coordinates of a light pulse emitting point on the anode of an image intensifier tube which forms part of a scintillating camera, comprising at least three photomultipliers which are positioned to receive light emitted by the anode screen on their photocathodes, circuit means for processing the output voltages of the photomultipliers to derive voltages that are representative of the position coordinates; a pulse-height discriminator circuit adapted to be fed with the sum voltage of the output voltages of the photomultipliers for gating the output of the processing circuit when the amplitude of the sum voltage of the output voltages of the photomultipliers lies in a predetermined amplitude range, and means for compensating the distortion introduced in the image on the anode screen

Study of a 4πβ-γ coincidence system for absolute radionuclide activity measurement using plastic scintillators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Piuvezam Filho, Helio

2007-01-01

The present work was intended to study a coincidence system 4π(PS)β-γ for absolute activity measurement using plastic scintillators in 4π geometry. Along with experiments on the coincidence system, simulations were also performed applying the Monte Carlo Method, by means of codes PENELOPE and ESQUEMA. These simulations were performed in order to calculate the extrapolation curve of the coincidence system 4π(PS)β-γ and compare it to experimental data. A new geometry was proposed to the coincidence system adding up a second photomultiplier tube to the previous system for improving light collection from the plastic scintillator, as this system presented limitations in the minimum detected energy due to the presence of electronic noise and low gain. The results show that an improvement in the signal-to-noise ratio was obtained, as well as in the minimum detected energy. Moreover, there was an increase in the detection efficiency. With these modifications, it is now possible to calibrate radionuclides which emit low energy electrons or X-rays, increasing the number of radionuclides that can be standardized with this type of system.(author)

Assay of /sup 32/Si by liquid scintillation counting

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cumming, J B [Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (USA)

1983-10-03

Application of the radioactivity of /sup 32/Si to problems of interest in geo- and cosmo-chemistry has been hampered by uncertainties in the half-life of this nuclide. A procedure for the stimulation assay of /sup 32/Si and its /sup 32/P daughter utilizing a liquid scintillation detector in association with a pulse height analyzer is described. The results indicate that /sup 32/Si can be assayed to an accuracy of a few percent by liquid scintillation counting techniques which do not require the preparation of an organic Si derivative. Combination of the mean specific activity with the /sup 32/Si abundance determined by accelerator-based mass spectrometry gave the reported 101+-18 year half-life.

Multi-frequency GNSS robust carrier tracking for ionospheric scintillation mitigation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vilà-Valls Jordi

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Ionospheric scintillation is the physical phenomena affecting radio waves propagating from the space through the ionosphere to earth. The signal distortion induced by scintillation can pose a major threat to some GNSS application. Scintillation is one of the more challenging propagation scenarios, particularly affecting high-precision GNSS receivers which require high quality carrier phase measurements; and safety critical applications which have strict accuracy, availability and integrity requirements. Under ionospheric scintillation conditions, GNSS signals are affected by fast amplitude and phase variations, which can compromise the receiver synchronization. To take into account the underlying correlation among different frequency bands, we propose a new multivariate autoregressive model (MAR for the multi-frequency ionospheric scintillation process. Multi-frequency GNSS observations and the scintillation MAR are modeled in state-space, allowing independent tracking of both line-of-sight phase variations and complex gain scintillation components. The resulting joint synchronization and scintillation mitigation problem is solved using a robust nonlinear Kalman filter, validated using real multi-frequency scintillation data with encouraging results.

New Measurements Of Jupiter's Equatorial Region In Visible Wavelengths

Science.gov (United States)

Rojas, Jose; Arregi, J.; García-Melendo, E.; Barrado-Izagirre, N.; Hueso, R.; Gómez-Forrellad, J. M.; Pérez-Hoyos, S.; Sanz-Requena, J. F.; Sánchez-Lavega, A.

2010-10-01

We have studied the equatorial region of Jupiter, between 15ºS and 15ºN, on Cassini ISS images obtained during the Jupiter flyby at the end of 2000 and on HST images acquired in May and July 2008. We have found significant longitudinal variations in the intensity of the 6ºN eastward jet, up to 60 m s-1 in Cassini and HST observations. In the HST case we found that these longitudinal variations are associated to different cloud morphology. Photometric and radiative transfer analysis of the cloud features used as tracers in HST images shows that there is only a small height difference, no larger than 0.5 - 1 scale heights at most, between the slow ( 100 m s-1) and fast ( 150 m s-1) moving features. This suggests that speed variability at 6ºN is not dominated by vertical wind shears and we propose that Rossby wave activity is the responsible for the zonal variability. After removing this variability we found that Jupiter's equatorial jet is actually symmetric relative to the equator with two peaks of 140 - 150 m s-1 located at latitudes 6ºN and 6ºS and at a similar pressure level. We also studied a large, long-lived feature called the White Spot (WS) located at 6ºS that turns to form and desapear. The internal flow field in the White Spot indicates that it is a weakly rotating quasi-equatorial anticyclone relative to the ambient meridionally sheared flow. Acknowledgements: This work was supported by the Spanish MICIIN AYA2009-10701 with FEDER and Grupos Gobierno Vasco IT-464-07.

2003: A centennial of spinthariscope and scintillation counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kolar, Z.I.; Hollander, W. den

2004-01-01

In 1903 W. Crookes demonstrated in England his 'spinthariscope' for the visual observation of individual scintillations caused by alpha particles impinging upon a ZnS screen. In contrast to the analogue methods of radiation measurements in that time the spinthariscope was a single-particle counter, being the precursor of scintillation counters since. In the same period F. Giesel, J. Elster and H. Geitel in Germany also found that scintillations from ZnS represent single particle events. This paper summarises the historical events relevant to the advent of scintillation counting

Preparation and characterization of a novel UV-curable plastic scintillator

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhu, Jun [Engineering Research Center of High Performance Polymer and Molding Technology, Ministry of Education, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266042 (China); Joint Laboratory for Extreme Conditions Matter Properties, Southwest University of Science and Technology and Research Center of Laser Fusion, China Academy of Engineering Physics, Mianyang 621010 (China); Research Center of Laser Fusion, China Academy of Engineering Physics, Mianyang 621900 (China); Ding, Yunyu [Engineering Research Center of High Performance Polymer and Molding Technology, Ministry of Education, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266042 (China); Zhu, Jiayi [Research Center of Laser Fusion, China Academy of Engineering Physics, Mianyang 621900 (China); Qi, Di [Engineering Research Center of High Performance Polymer and Molding Technology, Ministry of Education, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266042 (China); Su, Ming [Research Center of Laser Fusion, China Academy of Engineering Physics, Mianyang 621900 (China); Xu, Yewei; Bi, Yutie [Joint Laboratory for Extreme Conditions Matter Properties, Southwest University of Science and Technology and Research Center of Laser Fusion, China Academy of Engineering Physics, Mianyang 621010 (China); Lin, Runxiong, E-mail: qdlrx@qust.edu.cn [Engineering Research Center of High Performance Polymer and Molding Technology, Ministry of Education, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao 266042 (China); Zhang, Lin, E-mail: zhlmy@sina.com [Joint Laboratory for Extreme Conditions Matter Properties, Southwest University of Science and Technology and Research Center of Laser Fusion, China Academy of Engineering Physics, Mianyang 621010 (China); Research Center of Laser Fusion, China Academy of Engineering Physics, Mianyang 621900 (China)

2016-05-01

A novel UV-curable plastic scintillator was first prepared by using the technology of photosensitivity rapid prototyping. It used the copolymer of 621A-80, TPGDA and styrene as the matrix doped with PPO and POPOP. Its fluorescence spectra displayed a maximum emission wavelength at 428 nm. The light yield of the plastic scintillator was approximately 7.1% of anthracene on the basis of a comparison with the commercially available scintillator (ST-401). The as-prepared plastic scintillator also displayed a fast scintillation decay. Its decay time is 2.6 ns approximately. Importantly, through the technology of photosensitivity rapid prototyping, the plastic scintillator could be prepared in a short period of time at low temperature. What's more, this preparation method provides the possibility of combining the plastic scintillator with 3D printing technology, and then the applications of the plastic scintillator may be expanded greatly.

Multiple embryos, multiple nepionts and multiple equatorial layers in Cycloclypeus carpenteri.

Science.gov (United States)

Briguglio, Antonino; Kinoshita, Shunichi; Wolfgring, Erik; Hohenegger, Johann

2016-04-01

In this study, 17 specimens of Cycloclypeus carpenteri have been analyzed by means of microCT scanning. We used CT scanning technique as it enables the visualization and the quantifications of internal structures of hollow specimens without their destruction. It has been observed that many specimens possessing the natural morphology of this taxon, actually contain multiple embryos (up to 16 in one single specimen) and, in some few cases, multiple nepionts each with its own heterosteginid chambers (up to three separated nepionts). The diameter of each proloculus has been measured, and as a result, they are very variable even within the same specimen, therefore questioning the long known theory that schizonts have smaller proloculi than gamonts and also questioning the fact that proloculi in the same species should all have comparable size. Furthermore, we have observed the presence of additional equatorial planes on several specimens. Such additional planes are always connected to what seems to be the main equatorial plane. Such connections are T-shaped and are located at the junction between two equatorial layers; these junctions are made by a chamberlet, which possesses an unusually higher number of apertures. The connections between equatorial planes are always perfectly synchronized with the relative growth step and the same chamber can be therefore followed along the multiple equatorial planes. Apparently there is a perfect geometric relationship between the creation of additional equatorial planes and the position of the nepionts. Whenever the nepionts are positioned on different planes, additional planes are created and the angle of the nepionts is related to the banding angle of the equatorial planes. The presence of additional planes do not hamper the life of the cell, on the contrary, it seems that the cell is still able to build nicely shaped chamberlets and, after volumetric calculations, it seems all specimens managed to keep their logistic growth

Influence of coma aberration on aperture averaged scintillations in oceanic turbulence

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Yujuan; Ji, Xiaoling; Yu, Hong

2018-01-01

The influence of coma aberration on aperture averaged scintillations in oceanic turbulence is studied in detail by using the numerical simulation method. In general, in weak oceanic turbulence, the aperture averaged scintillation can be effectively suppressed by means of the coma aberration, and the aperture averaged scintillation decreases as the coma aberration coefficient increases. However, in moderate and strong oceanic turbulence the influence of coma aberration on aperture averaged scintillations can be ignored. In addition, the aperture averaged scintillation dominated by salinity-induced turbulence is larger than that dominated by temperature-induced turbulence. In particular, it is shown that for coma-aberrated Gaussian beams, the behavior of aperture averaged scintillation index is quite different from the behavior of point scintillation index, and the aperture averaged scintillation index is more suitable for characterizing scintillations in practice.

Neutron-gamma discrimination of boron loaded plastic scintillator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang Dong; He Bin; Zhang Quanhu; Wu Chuangxin; Luo Zhonghui

2010-01-01

Boron loaded plastic scintillator could detect both fast neutrons thanks to hydrogen and thermal neutrons thanks to 10B. Both reactions have large cross sections, and results in high detection efficiency of incident neutrons. However, similar with other organic scintillators, boron loaded plastic scintillator is sensitive to gamma rays and neutrons. So gamma rays must be rejected from neutrons using their different behavior in the scintillator. In the present research zero crossing method was used to test neutron-gamma discrimination of BC454 boron loaded plastic scintillator. There are three Gaussian peaks in the time spectrum, they are corresponding to gamma rays, fast neutrons and flow neutrons respectively. Conclusion could be made that BC454 could clear discriminate slow neutrons and gamma, but the discrimination performance turns poor as the neutrons' energy becomes larger. (authors)

Influence of the active area size and read-out method on the timing performance of SiPMs coupled to LYSO scintillators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tarolli, Alessandro; Gola, Alberto; Ferri, Alessandro; Pro, Tiziana; Serra, Nicola; Zorzi, Nicola; Piemonte, Claudio

2013-01-01

In this work we report on the coincidence resolving time performance of SiPMs with different sizes, produced at FBK, coupled to the same LYSO scintillators. The measurements are performed both with and without the differential leading edge discriminator at three different temperatures, 20 °C, 0 °C and −20 °C. The photo-detectors feature an active area of 2×2 mm 2 and 4×4 mm 2 . The scintillators have a cross-section of 1.8×1.8 mm 2 and height of 10 mm. The measurements show that, once we eliminate the effect of noise on the timing measurements, we obtain similar coincidence resolving times for the two SiPM sizes considered. This means that the SiPM capacitance, at least up to 4×4 mm 2 , is not a limiting factor

Surface preparation and coupling in plastic scintillator dosimetry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ayotte, Guylaine; Archambault, Louis; Gingras, Luc; Lacroix, Frederic; Beddar, A. Sam; Beaulieu, Luc

2006-01-01

One way to improve the performance of scintillation dosimeters is to increase the light-collection efficiency at the coupling interfaces of the detector system. We performed a detailed study of surface preparation of scintillating fibers and their coupling with clear optical fibers to minimize light loss and increase the amount of light collected. We analyzed fiber-surface polishing with aluminum oxide sheets, coating fibers with magnesium oxide, and the use of eight different coupling agents (air, three optical gels, an optical curing agent, ultraviolet light, cyanoacrylate glue, and acetone). We prepared 10 scintillating fiber and clear optical fiber light guide samples to test different coupling methods. To test the coupling, we first cut both the scintillating fiber and the clear optical fiber. Then, we cleaned and polished both ends of both fibers. Finally, we coupled the scintillating fiber with the clear optical fiber in either a polyethylene jacket or a V-grooved support depending on the coupling agent used. To produce more light, we used an ultraviolet lamp to stimulate scintillation. A typical series of similar couplings showed a standard deviation in light-collection efficiency of 10%. This can be explained by differences in the surface preparation quality and alignment of the scintillating fiber with the clear optical fiber. Absence of surface polishing reduced the light collection by approximately 40%, and application of magnesium oxide on the proximal end of the scintillating fiber increased the amount of light collected from the optical fiber by approximately 39%. Of the coupling agents, we obtained the best results using one of the optical gels. Because a large amount of the light produced inside a scintillator is usually lost, better light-collection efficiency will result in improved sensitivity

Seasonal Variation of Diurnal Cycle of Rainfall in the Eastern Equatorial Indian Ocean

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

RameshKumar, M.R.; Pednekar, S.; Katsumata, M.; Antony, M.K.; Kuroda, Y.; Unnikrishnan, A.S.

The diurnal cycle of rainfall over the eastern equatorial Indian Ocean is studied for the period 23rd October 2001 to 31st October 2003 using the hourly data from the Triton buoy positioned at 1.5°S and 90°E. An analysis of the active and weak...

Mounting LHCb hadron calorimeter scintillating tiles

CERN Multimedia

Maximilien Brice

2004-01-01

Scintillating tiles are carefully mounted in the hadronic calorimeter for the LHCb detector. These calorimeters measure the energy of particles that interact via the strong force, called hadrons. The detectors are made in a sandwich-like structure where these scintillator tiles are placed between metal sheets.

Gamma spectrometry and plastic-scintillator inherent background

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pomerantsev, V.V.; Gagauz, I.B.; Mitsai, L.I.; Pilipenko, V.S.; Solomonov, V.M.; Chernikov, V.V.; Tsirlin, Y.A.

1988-01-01

The authors measured the energy resolution for a linear dependence of light yield on gamma radiation energy of gamma spectrometers based on plastic scintillation detectors for several plastic scintillators. If there were several gamma lines from the source the line with the highest energy was used to eliminate distortion due to overlap from the Compton background from gamma radiation of higher energy. Attenuation lengths were calculated. The tests were based on three modes of interaction between the gamma radiation and the scintillator: Compton scattering, the photoelectric effect, and pair formation. The contribution from light collection was also considered. The scintillators tested included polystyrene, polymethyl methacrylate, cesium iodide, and sodium iodide. Gamma sources included cesium 137, sodium 22, potassium 40, yttrium 88, thorium 232, and plutonium-beryllium

Thallium bromide photodetectors for scintillation detection

CERN Document Server

Hitomi, K; Shoji, T; Hiratate, Y; Ishibashi, H; Ishii, M

2000-01-01

A wide bandgap compound semiconductor, TlBr, has been investigated as a blue sensitive photodetector material for scintillation detection. The TlBr photodetectors have been fabricated from the TlBr crystals grown by the TMZ method using materials purified by many pass zone refining. The performance of the photodetectors has been evaluated by measuring their leakage current, quantum efficiency, spatial uniformity, direct X-ray detection and scintillation detection characteristics. The photodetectors have shown high quantum efficiency for the blue wavelength region and high spatial uniformity for their optical response. In addition, good direct X-ray detection characteristics with an energy resolution of 4.5 keV FWHM for 22 keV X-rays from a sup 1 sup 0 sup 9 Cd radioactive source have been obtained. Detection of blue scintillation from GSO and LSO scintillators irradiated with a sup 2 sup 2 Na radioactive source has been done successfully by using the photodetectors at room temperature. A clear full-energy pea...

Cherenkov and scintillation light separation on the CheSS experiment

Science.gov (United States)

Caravaca, Javier; Land, Benjamin; Descamps, Freija; Orebi Gann, Gabriel D.

2016-09-01

Separation of the scintillation and Cherenkov light produced in liquid scintillators enables outstanding capabilities for future particle detectors, the most relevant being: particle directionality information in a low energy threshold detector and improved particle identification. The CheSS experiment uses an array of small, fast photomultipliers (PMTs) and state-of-the-art electronics to demonstrate the reconstruction of a Cherenkov ring in liquid scintillator using two techniques: based on the photon density and using the photon hit time information. A charged particle ionizing a scintillation medium produces a prompt Cherenkov cone and late isotropic scintillation light, typically delayed by several ns. The fast response of our PMTs and DAQ provides a precision well below the ns level, making possible the time separation. Furthermore, the usage of the new developed water-based liquid scintillators (WbLS) enhances the separation since it allows tuning of the Cherenkov/Scintillation ratio. Latest results on the separation for pure liquid scintillators and WbLS will be presented.

Co-doping effects on luminescence and scintillation properties of Ce doped Lu3Al5O12 scintillator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kamada, Kei; Nikl, Martin; Kurosawa, Shunsuke; Beitlerova, Alena; Nagura, Aya; Shoji, Yasuhiro; Pejchal, Jan; Ohashi, Yuji; Yokota, Yuui; Yoshikawa, Akira

2015-01-01

The Mg, Ca, Sr and Ba 200 ppm co-doped Ce:Lu 3 Al 5 O 12 single crystals were prepared by micro pulling down method. Absorption and luminescence spectra were measured together with several other scintillation characteristics, namely the scintillation decay and light yield to reveal the effect of the co-doping. The scintillation decays were accelerated by both Mg and Ca co-dopants. The Mg co-doped samples showed the fastest decay and the highest light yield among the co-doped samples

The Role of Reversed Equatorial Zonal Transport in Terminating an ENSO Event

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, H. C.; Hu, Z. Z.; Huang, B.; Sui, C. H.

2016-02-01

In this study, we demonstrate that a sudden reversal of anomalous equatorial zonal current at the peaking ENSO phase triggers the rapid termination of an ENSO event. Throughout an ENSO cycle, the anomalous equatorial zonal current is strongly controlled by the concavity of the anomalous thermocline meridional structure near the equator. During the ENSO developing phase, the anomalous zonal current in the central and eastern Pacific generally enhances the ENSO growth through its zonal SST advection. In the mature phase of ENSO, however, the equatorial thermocline depth anomalies are reflected in the eastern Pacific and slowly propagate westward off the equator in both hemispheres. As a result, the concavity of the thermocline anomalies near the equator is reversed, i.e., the off-equatorial thermocline depth anomalies become higher than that on the equator for El Niño events and lower for La Niño events. This meridional change of thermocline structure reverses zonal transport rapidly in the central-to-eastern equatorial Pacific, which weakens the ENSO SST anomalies by reversed advection. More importantly, the reversed zonal mass transport weakens the existing zonal tilting of equatorial thermocline and suppresses the thermocline feedback. Both processes are concentrated in the eastern equatorial Pacific and can be effective on subseasonal time scales. These current reversal effects are built-in to the ENSO peak phase and independent of the zonal wind effect on thermocline slope. It functions as an oceanic control on ENSO evolution during both El Niño and La Niña events.

CONVECTIVE BURSTS AND THE COUPLING OF SATURN'S EQUATORIAL STORMS AND INTERIOR ROTATION

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heimpel, Moritz; Aurnou, Jonathan M.

2012-01-01

Temporal variations of Saturn's equatorial jet and magnetic field hint at rich dynamics coupling the atmosphere and the deep interior. However, it has been assumed that rotation of the interior dynamo must be steady over tens of years of modern observations. Here we use a numerical convection model and scaling estimates to show how equatorial convective bursts can transfer angular momentum to the deeper interior. The numerical model allows angular momentum transfer between a fluid outer spherical shell and a rigid inner sphere. Convection drives a prograde equatorial jet exhibiting quasiperiodic bursts that fill the equatorial volume outside the tangent cylinder. For each burst strong changes in the equatorial surface velocity are associated with retrograde torque on the inner sphere. Our results suggest that Saturn's Great White Spot, a giant storm that was observed to fill the equatorial region in 1990, could mobilize a volume of fluid carrying roughly 15% of Saturn's moment of inertia. Conservation of angular momentum then implies that a 20% change in the equatorial jet angular velocity could change the average interior rotation rate by about 0.1%—roughly an order of magnitude less than the apparent rotation rate changes associated with Saturn's kilometric radio (SKR) signal. However, if the SKR signal originates outside the liquid metal core in a 'planetary tachocline' that separates the layer of fast zonal flow from the magnetically controlled and slowly convecting deep interior, then convective bursts can provide a possible mechanism for the observed ∼1% SKR changes.

Liquid scintillator mixable with water

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Benson, R.H.

1976-01-01

A liquid scintillator mixable with water is described consisting of an aromatic solvent (xylene), a scintillation material and an ethoxylated alkyl phenol (as surface-active substance). So far such kinds of system have not given good measurements on counting samples with high water content. Due to the invention's composition one gets good results even with counting samples having a water content of over 30% if the alkyl substituent of the alkyl phenol contains 7, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15 or 16 C atoms and the ratio n/x of the number n of C atoms of the alkyl substituents to the average number x of the ethoxy groups of the ethoxylated alkyl phenols lie between 0.83 and 1.67. The following alkyl phenols are mentioned: heptyl phenol (n/x between 0.83 and 1.08), decyl phenol (n/x between 0.90 and 1.17), hendecyl phenol (n/x between 0.93 and 1.22), tridecyl phenol (n/x between 0.97 and 1.34), tetradecyl phenol (n/x between 1.08 and 1.55), pentadecyl phenol (n/x between 1.15 and 1.67), hexadecyl phenol (n/x between 1.33 and 1.51). (UWI) [de

Scintillator detector array

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cusano, D.A.; Dibianca, F.A.

1981-01-01

This patent application relates to a scintillator detector array for use in computerized tomography and comprises a housing including a plurality of chambers, the said housing having a front wall transmissive to x-rays and side walls opaque to x-rays, such as of tungsten and tantalum, a liquid scintillation medium including a soluble fluor, the solvent for the fluor being disposed in the chambers. The solvent comprises either an intrinsically high Z solvent or a solvent which has dissolved therein a high Z compound e.g. iodo or bromonaphthalene; or toluene, xylene or trimethylbenzene with a lead or tin alkyl dissolved therein. Also disposed about the chambers are a plurality of photoelectric devices. (author)

The determination of 14CO2 in breath by liquid scintillation counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ozker, K.; East, B.W.; Boddy, K.

1977-03-01

A sensitive method of sampling and measuring the specific activity of 14 CO 2 in expired breath in order to evaluate the metabolic pathways of 14 C-labelled compounds has been devised. 14 CO 2 is blown through a short plastic tube, attached to a drier, into a scintillation vial containing hyamine hydroxide and ethanol. 14 CO 2 was generated to the end-point of neutralization of hyamine hydroxide, indicated by the decolourisation of phenolphthalein. 14 CO 2 was counted after mixing the hyamine hydroxide and ethanol with 15ml toluene scintillation solution. The specific activity of 14 CO 2 from the samples was compared with that of solutions of known activity. The method is sensitive for clinical applications and can be performed at a patient's bedside. (U.K.)

Development of new Polysiloxane Based Liquid Scintillators

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dalla Palma, M.; Quaranta, A. [Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Trento,Via Sommarive, 9, 38123 Trento (Italy); INFN, Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro,Viale dell' Universita, 2, 35020 Legnaro - Padova (Italy); Gramegna, F.; Marchi, T.; Cinausero, M. [INFN, Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro,Viale dell' Universita, 2, 35020 Legnaro - Padova (Italy); Carturan, S.; Collazuol, G.; Checchia, C. [INFN, Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro,Viale dell' Universita, 2, 35020 Legnaro - Padova (Italy); Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Padova, Via Marzolo, 8, 35131 Padova (Italy); Degerlier, M. [Department of Physics, Nevsehir Haci Bektas Veli University, Science and Art Faculty, 50300 Nevsehir (Turkey)

2015-07-01

In the last decade, attention toward neutron detection has been growing in the scientific community, driven by new requirements in different fields of application ranging from homeland security to medical and material analysis, from research physics, to nuclear energy production. So far neutron detection, with particular attention to fast neutrons, has been mainly based on organic liquid scintillators, owing to their good efficiency and pulse shape discrimination (PSD) capability. Most of these liquids have however some main drawbacks given by toxicity, flammability, volatility and sensitivity to dissolved oxygen that limits the duration and the quality of their performances with worse handiness and increased costs. Phenyl-substituted polysiloxanes could address most of these issues, being characterized by low toxicity, low volatility and low flammability. Their optical properties can be tailored by changing the phenyl distribution and concentration thus allowing to increase the solubility of organic dyes, to modify the fluorescence spectra and to vary the refractive index of the medium. Furthermore, polysiloxanes have been recently exploited for the production of plastic scintillators with very good chemical and thermal stability and very good radiation hardness and the development of polysiloxane liquid scintillators could allow to combine these interesting properties with the supremacy of liquid scintillators as regarding PSD over plastics. For these reasons, the properties of several phenyl-substituted polysiloxane with different phenyl amounts and different viscosities have been investigated, with particular attention to the scintillation response and the pulse shape discrimination capability, and the results of the investigation are reported in this work. More in details, the scintillation light yield towards gamma rays ({sup 60}Co and {sup 137}Cs) of several polysiloxane liquids has been analyzed and compared with the light yield of a commercial non

The Plasma Environment Associated With Equatorial Ionospheric Irregularities

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Jonathon M.; Heelis, R. A.

2018-02-01

We examine the density structure of equatorial depletions referred to here as equatorial plasma bubbles (EPBs). Data recorded by the Ion Velocity Meter as part of the Coupled Ion Neutral Dynamics Investigation (CINDI) aboard the Communication/Navigation Outage Forecasting System (C/NOFS) satellite are used to study EPBs from 1600 to 0600 h local time at altitudes from 350 to 850 km. The data are taken during the 7 years from 2008 to 2014, more than one half of a magnetic solar cycle, that include solar minimum and a moderate solar maximum. Using a rolling ball algorithm, EPBs are identified by profiles in the plasma density, each having a depth measured as the percent change between the background and minimum density (ΔN/N). During solar moderate activity bubbles observed in the topside postsunset sector are more likely to have large depths compared to those observed in the topside postmidnight sector. Large bubble depths can be observed near 350 km in the bottomside F region in the postsunset period. Conversely at solar minimum the distribution of depths is similar in the postsunset and postmidnight sectors in all longitude sectors. Deep bubbles are rarely observed in the topside postsunset sector and never in the bottomside above 400 km in altitude. We suggest that these features result from the vertical drift of the plasma for these two solar activity levels. These drift conditions affect both the background density in which bubbles are embedded and the growth rate of perturbations in the bottomside where bubbles originate.

Study of polystyrene scintillators-WLS fiber elements and scintillating tile-WLS prototypes for New CHOD detector of CERN NA-62 experiment

CERN Document Server

Semenov, Vitaliy; Gorin, Aleksandr; Khudyakov, Aleksey; Rykalin, Vladimir; Yushchenko, Oleg

2016-01-01

We measured the light output and the time resolution of few sets comprised of polystyrene scintillator and wavelength shifting (WLS) fibers as readout. The samples of different thickness (7-30 mm) have been made in the shape of bricks and plates with the areas of 25×80, 108×134 and 108×268 of mm2. In addition to samples of “ordinary” scintillator with additions of 2% p- Terphenyl + 0.05% POPOP, the rapid ultraviolet scintillator with single 2% additive PBD was tested. For the light collection WLS-fibers BCF92, Y11 and scintillation fiber SCSF-78M as reemitting were checked. The fibers were glued into the grooves on the front surface of scintillators. As the photo detectors silicon photomultipliers (SiPM) produced by CPTA (Russia) and SensL (Ireland) were used. It is shown that the dependence of light output on the thickness of scintillator is nonlinear and close to the square root function, which is also confirmed by the calculations carried out by Monte Carlo. The measured value of a light output make...

Electromagnetic analysis of ITER diagnostic equatorial port plugs during plasma disruptions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhai, Y.; Feder, R.; Brooks, A.; Ulrickson, M.; Pitcher, C.S.; Loesser, G.D.

2013-01-01

Highlights: ► Disruption loads on ITER diagnostic equatorial port plugs are extracted. ► Upward major disruption produces the largest radial moment and radial force on diagnostic first walls and diagnostic shield modules. ► Large eddy currents on supporting rails, keys and water pipes are observed during disruption. -- Abstract: ITER diagnostic port plugs perform many functions including structural support of diagnostic systems under high electromagnetic loads while allowing for diagnostic access to the plasma. The design of diagnostic equatorial port plugs (EPP) are largely driven by electromagnetic loads and associate responses of EPP structure during plasma disruptions and VDEs. This paper summarizes results of transient electromagnetic analysis using Opera 3d in support of the design activities for ITER diagnostic EPP. A complete distribution of disruption loads on the diagnostic first walls (DFWs), diagnostic shield modules (DSMs) and the EPP structure, as well as impact on the system design integration due to electrical contact among various EPP structural components are discussed

Shutdown dose rate analysis of European test blanket modules shields in ITER Equatorial Port #16

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Juárez, Rafael, E-mail: rjuarez@ind.uned.es [Departamento de Ingeniería Energética, ETSII-UNED, Calle Juan del Rosal 12, Madrid 28040 (Spain); Sauvan, Patrick; Perez, Lucia [Departamento de Ingeniería Energética, ETSII-UNED, Calle Juan del Rosal 12, Madrid 28040 (Spain); Panayotov, Dobromir; Vallory, Joelle; Zmitko, Milan; Poitevin, Yves [Fusion for Energy (F4E), Torres Diagonal Litoral B3, Josep Pla 2, Barcelona 08019 (Spain); Sanz, Javier [Departamento de Ingeniería Energética, ETSII-UNED, Calle Juan del Rosal 12, Madrid 28040 (Spain)

2016-11-01

Highlights: • Nuclear analysis for European TBMs and shields, in ITER Equatorial Port #16, has been conducted in support of the ‘Concept Design Review’ from ITER. • The objective of the work is the characterization of the Shutdown Dose Rates at Equatorial Port #16 interspace. • The role played by the TBM and TBM shields, the equatorial port gaps and the vacuum vessel permeation, in terms of neutron flux transmission is assessed. • The role played by the TBM, TBM shields, Port Plug Frame, Pipe Forest and the machine in terms of activation is also investigated. - Abstract: ‘Fusion for Energy’ (F4E) is designing, developing, and implementing the European Helium-Cooled Lead-Lithium (HCLL) and Helium-Cooled Pebble-Bed (HCPB) Test Blanket Systems (TBSs) for ITER (Nuclear Facility INB-174). An essential element of the Conceptual Design Review (CDR) of these TBSs is the demonstration of capability of Test Blanket Modules (TBM) and their shields to fulfil their function and comply with the design requirements. One of the TBM shields highly relevant design aspects is the project target for shutdown dose rates (SDDR) in the interspace. We investigated two functions of the TBMs and TBM shields—the neutron flux attenuation along the shields, and the reduction of the activation of the components contributing to SDDR. It is shown that TBMs and TBM shields reduce significantly the neutron flux in the port plug (PP). In terms of neutron flux attenuation, the TBM shield provides sufficient neutron flux reduction, being responsible for 5 × 10{sup 6} n/cm{sup 2} s at port interspace, while the EPP gaps and BSM gaps are responsible for 5 × 10{sup 7} n/cm{sup 2} s each. When considering closed upper, lower and lateral neighbour equatorial ports (thus, excluding the cross-talk between ports), a SDDR of 121 μSv/h averaged near the port closure flange was obtained, out of which, only 4 μSv/h are due to the activation of TBMs and TBM shields. Maximum SDDR in the range

Use of internal scintillator radioactivity to calibrate DOI function of a PET detector with a dual-ended-scintillator readout

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bircher, Chad; Shao Yiping

2012-01-01

Purpose: Positron emission tomography (PET) detectors that use a dual-ended-scintillator readout to measure depth-of-interaction (DOI) must have an accurate DOI function to provide the relationship between DOI and signal ratios to be used for detector calibration and recalibration. In a previous study, the authors used a novel and simple method to accurately and quickly measure DOI function by irradiating the detector with an external uniform flood source; however, as a practical concern, implementing external uniform flood sources in an assembled PET system is technically challenging and expensive. In the current study, therefore, the authors investigated whether the same method could be used to acquire DOI function from scintillator-generated (i.e., internal) radiation. The authors also developed a method for calibrating the energy scale necessary to select the events within the desired energy window. Methods: The authors measured the DOI function of a PET detector with lutetium yttrium orthosilicate (LYSO) scintillators. Radiation events originating from the scintillators' internal Lu-176 beta decay were used to measure DOI functions which were then compared with those measured from both an external uniform flood source and an electronically collimated external point source. The authors conducted these studies with several scintillators of differing geometries (1.5 x 1.5 and 2.0 x 2.0 mm 2 cross-section area and 20, 30, and 40 mm length) and various surface finishes (mirror-finishing, saw-cut rough, and other finishes in between), and in a prototype array. Results: All measured results using internal and external radiation sources showed excellent agreement in DOI function measurement. The mean difference among DOI values for all scintillators measured from internal and external radiation sources was less than 1.0 mm for different scintillator geometries and various surface finishes. Conclusions: The internal radioactivity of LYSO scintillators can be used to

Report on radiation exposure of lead-scintillator stack

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Underwood, D.G.

1990-01-01

A stack of lead and scintillator was placed in a neutral beam obtained from targeting 800 GeV protons. Small pieces of film containing radiochromic dye were placed adjacent to the layers of scintillator for the purpose of measuring the radiation dose to the scintillator. Our motivation was to calibrate the radiation dose obtainable in this manner for future tests of scintillator for SSC experiments and to relate dose to flux to check absolute normalization for calculations. We also observed several other radiation effects which should be considered for both damage and compensation in a calorimeter

Water quality - Determination of tritium activity concentration - Liquid scintillation counting method (International Standard Publication ISO 9698:1989)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Stefanik, J.

1999-01-01

This International Standard specifies a method for the determination of tritiated water ([ 3 H]H 2 O) activity concentration in water by liquid scintillation counting. The method is applicable to all types of water including seawater with tritium activity concentrations of up to 10 6 Bq/m 3 when using 20 ml counting vials. Below tritium activity concentrations of about 5 x 10 4 Bq/m 3[ 8], a prior enrichment step and/or the measurement of larger sample volumes can significantly improve the accuracy of the determination and lower the limit of detection. Tritium activity concentrations higher than 10 6 Bq/m 3 may be determined after appropriate dilution with distilled water of proven low tritium content. An alternative method for the determination of these higher activities involves increasing the tritium activity concentrations of the internal standard solution. The method is not applicable to the analysis of organically bound tritium; its determination requires an oxidative digestion

Role of hot electron transport in scintillators: A theoretical study

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Huang, Huihui [SZU-NUS Collaborative Innovation Center for Optoelectronic Science and Technology, Key Lab. of Optoelectronic Devices and Systems of Ministry of Education and Guangdong Province, College of Optoelectronic Engineering, Shenzhen Univ. (China); Li, Qi [Physical Sciences Division, IBM TJ Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY (United States); Department of Computer Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL (United States); Lu, Xinfu; Williams, R.T. [Department of Physics, Wake Forest University, Winston Salem, NC (United States); Qian, Yiyang [College of Engineering and Applied Science, Nanjing University (China); Wu, Yuntao [Scintillation Materials Research Center, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)

2016-10-15

Despite recent intensive study on scintillators, several fundamental questions on scintillator properties are still unknown. In this work, we use ab-initio calculations to determine the energy dependent group velocity of the hot electrons from the electronic structures of several typical scintillators. Based on the calculated group velocities and optical phonon frequencies, a Monte-Carlo simulation of hot electron transport in scintillators is carried out to calculate the thermalization time and diffusion range in selected scintillators. Our simulations provide physical insights on a recent trend of improved proportionality and light yield from mixed halide scintillators. (copyright 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Variability in the origins and pathways of Pacific Equatorial Undercurrent water

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Qin, Xuerong; Sen Gupta, Alex; Van Sebille, Erik

2015-01-01

The Pacific Equatorial Undercurrent (EUC) transports water originating from a number of distinct source regions, eastward across the Pacific Ocean. It is responsible for supplying nutrients to the productive eastern Equatorial Pacific Ocean. Of particular importance is the transport of iron by the

Scintillation properties of polycrystalline LaxY1-xO3 ceramic

Science.gov (United States)

Sahi, Sunil; Chen, Wei; Kenarangui, Rasool

2015-03-01

Scintillators are the material that absorbs the high-energy photons and emits visible photons. Scintillators are commonly used in radiation detector for security, medical imaging, industrial applications and high energy physics research. Two main types of scintillators are inorganic single crystals and organic (plastic or liquid) scintillators. Inorganic single crystals are expensive and difficult to grow in desire shape and size. Also, some efficient inorganic scintillator such as NaI and CsI are not environmental friendly. But on the other hand, organic scintillators have low density and hence poor energy resolution which limits their use in gamma spectroscopy. Polycrystalline ceramic can be a cost effective alternative to expensive inorganic single crystal scintillators. Here we have fabricated La0.2Y1.8O3 ceramic scintillator and studied their luminescence and scintillation properties. Ceramic scintillators were fabricated by vacuum sintering of La0.2Y1.8O3 nanoparticles at temperature below the melting point. La0.2Y1.8O3 ceramic were characterized structurally using XRD and TEM. Photoluminescence and radioluminescence studies were done using UV and X-ray as an excitation source. We have used gamma isotopes with different energy to studies the scintillation properties of La0.2Y1.8O3 scintillator. Preliminary studies of La0.2Y1.8O3 scintillator shows promising result with energy resolution comparable to that of NaI and CsI.

Alkali metal hafnium oxide scintillators

Science.gov (United States)

Bourret-Courchesne, Edith; Derenzo, Stephen E.; Taylor, Scott Edward

2018-05-08

The present invention provides for a composition comprising an inorganic scintillator comprising an alkali metal hafnate, optionally cerium-doped, having the formula A2HfO3:Ce; wherein A is an alkali metal having a valence of 1, such as Li or Na; and the molar percent of cerium is 0% to 100%. The alkali metal hafnate are scintillators and produce a bright luminescence upon irradiation by a suitable radiation.

Factors determining radiation stability of plastic scintillators

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Barashkov, N.N. [Texas Univ., Richardson, TX (United States). Dept. of Chemistry; Gunder, O.A.; Voronkina, N.I. [National Ukrainian Academy of Science, Kharkov (Ukraine). Inst. for Single Crystals; Milinchuk, V.K. [Karpov Inst. of Physical Chemistry, Moscow (Russian Federation)

1996-11-01

Polystyrene (PS) and polyvinylxylene (PVX) are the base materials for plastic scintillators u.v.-Vis spectrophotometry, luminescence and ESR spectroscopy were performed on irradiated samples of PS and PVX with the p-terphenyl (TP) as the primary luminophore and 1,4-di-2(5-phenyloxazolyl-1,3) benzene (POPOP) as the secondary one. Dependence of the radioluminescence intensity of the scintillators on the concentration of the macroradicals formed by irradiation was investigated. Dose dependence of the radiation stability of scintillators is discussed. (author).

Factors determining radiation stability of plastic scintillators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barashkov, N.N.

1996-01-01

Polystyrene (PS) and polyvinylxylene (PVX) are the base materials for plastic scintillators u.v.-Vis spectrophotometry, luminescence and ESR spectroscopy were performed on irradiated samples of PS and PVX with the p-terphenyl (TP) as the primary luminophore and 1,4-di-2(5-phenyloxazolyl-1,3) benzene (POPOP) as the secondary one. Dependence of the radioluminescence intensity of the scintillators on the concentration of the macroradicals formed by irradiation was investigated. Dose dependence of the radiation stability of scintillators is discussed. (author)

Scintillation device of X-ray detection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Polack, F.; Bigler, E.

1985-01-01

The detection device comprises a screen made of microtubes transparent to the light emitted by a scintillator material in the microtube channels. The scintillator material optical index is greater than the microtube material index, so as to constitute optical fiber, with index rise, guiding the light toward the outside [fr

The effects of the pre-reversal ExB drift, the EIA asymmetry, and magnetic activity on the equatorial spread F during solar maximum

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C.-C. Lee

2005-03-01

Full Text Available We use a digisonde at Jicamarca and a chain of GPS receivers on the west side of South America to investigate the effects of the pre-reversal enhancement (PRE in ExB drift, the asymmetry (Ia of equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA, and the magnetic activity (Kp on the generation of equatorial spread F (ESF. Results show that the ESF appears frequently in summer (November, December, January, and February and equinoctial (March, April, September, and October months, but rarely in winter (May, June, July, and August months. The seasonal variation in the ESF is associated with those in the PRE ExB drift and Ia. The larger ExB drift (>20m/s and smaller |Ia| (<0.3 in summer and equinoctial months provide a preferable condition to development the ESF. Conversely, the smaller ExB drift and larger |Ia| are responsible for the lower ESF occurrence in winter months. Regarding the effects of magnetic activity, the ESF occurrence decreases with increasing Kp in the equinoctial and winter months, but not in the summer months. Furthermore, the larger and smaller ExB drifts are presented under the quiet (Kp<3 and disturbed (Kp≥3 conditions, respectively. These results indicate that the suppression in ESF and the decrease in ExB drifts are mainly caused by the decrease in the eastward electric field.

Data process of liquid scintillation counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ishikawa, Hiroaki; Kuwajima, Susumu.

1975-01-01

The use of liquid scintillation counting system has been significantly spread because automatic sample changers and printers have recently come to be incorporated. However, the system will be systematized completely if automatic data processing and the sample preparation of radioactive materials to be measured are realized. Dry or wet oxidation method is applied to the sample preparation when radioactive materials are hard to dissolve into scintillator solution. Since these several years, the automatic sample combustion system, in which the dry oxidation is automated, has been rapidly spread and serves greatly to labor saving. Since the printers generally indicate only counted number, data processing system has been developed, and speeded up calculating process, which automatically corrects quenching of samples for obtaining the final radioactivity required. The data processing system is roughly divided into on-line and off-line systems according to whether computers are connected directly or indirectly, while its hardware is classified to input, calculating and output devices. Also, the calculation to determine sample activity by external standard method is explained. (Wakatsuki, Y.)

Characteristics of plastic scintillators fabricated by a polymerization reaction

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Cheol Ho; Son, Jaebum; Kim, Tae Hoon; Kim, Yong Kyun [Dept. of Nuclear Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

2017-04-15

Three plastic scintillators of 4.5 cm diameter and 2.5-cm length were fabricated for comparison with commercial plastic scintillators using polymerization of the styrene monomer 2.5-diphenyloxazole (PPO) and 1,4-bis benzene (POPOP). Their maximum emission wavelengths were determined at 426.06 nm, 426.06 nm, and 425.00 nm with a standard error of 0.2% using a Varian spectrophotometer (Agilent, Santa Clara, CA, USA). Compton edge spectra were measured using three gamma ray sources [i.e., cesium 137 ({sup 137}Cs), sodium 22 ({sup 22}Na), and cobalt 60 ({sup 60}Co)]. Energy was calibrated by analyzing the Compton edge spectra. The fabricated scintillators possessed more than 99.7% energy linearity. Light output was comparable to that of the BC-408 scintillator (Saint-Gobain, Paris, France). The fabricated scintillators showed a light output of approximately 59–64% of that of the BC-408 scintillator.

Methods for the continuous production of plastic scintillator materials

Science.gov (United States)

Bross, Alan; Pla-Dalmau, Anna; Mellott, Kerry

1999-10-19

Methods for producing plastic scintillating material employing either two major steps (tumble-mix) or a single major step (inline-coloring or inline-doping). Using the two step method, the polymer pellets are mixed with silicone oil, and the mixture is then tumble mixed with the dopants necessary to yield the proper response from the scintillator material. The mixture is then placed in a compounder and compounded in an inert gas atmosphere. The resultant scintillator material is then extruded and pelletized or formed. When only a single step is employed, the polymer pellets and dopants are metered into an inline-coloring extruding system. The mixture is then processed under a inert gas atmosphere, usually argon or nitrogen, to form plastic scintillator material in the form of either scintillator pellets, for subsequent processing, or as material in the direct formation of the final scintillator shape or form.

Development of radiation hard scintillators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Markley, F.; Woods, D.; Pla-Dalmau, A.; Foster, G.; Blackburn, R.

1992-05-01

Substantial improvements have been made in the radiation hardness of plastic scintillators. Cylinders of scintillating materials 2.2 cm in diameter and 1 cm thick have been exposed to 10 Mrads of gamma rays at a dose rate of 1 Mrad/h in a nitrogen atmosphere. One of the formulations tested showed an immediate decrease in pulse height of only 4% and has remained stable for 12 days while annealing in air. By comparison a commercial PVT scintillator showed an immediate decrease of 58% and after 43 days of annealing in air it improved to a 14% loss. The formulated sample consisted of 70 parts by weight of Dow polystyrene, 30 pbw of pentaphenyltrimethyltrisiloxane (Dow Corning DC 705 oil), 2 pbw of p-terphenyl, 0.2 pbw of tetraphenylbutadiene, and 0.5 pbw of UVASIL299LM from Ferro

Method for determination of radium-226 in water by liquid scintillation counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suomela, J.

1993-07-01

The chemical procedure involves the isolation or radium from the sample solution by co-precipitation with lead sulphate. The precipitate is dissolved in alkaline DTPA. The radium isotopes are separated from other radionuclides by co-precipitation with barium sulphate. The barium/radium precipitate is dissolved in alkaline EDTA, the solution is transfered to a liquid scintillation vial and the organic scintillant is added. After sealing, the sample is left until equilibrium between Ra-226 and Rn-222 is established or until a suitable ingrowth time has elapsed. The alpha activity of Rn-222 and its short-lived daughters, Po-218 and Po-214, are measured by the use of a commercial liquid scintillation counter. By using the following procedure and a low level LSC a lover limit of detection of 2 mBq/sample can be achieved

Saturn's equatorial jet structure from Cassini/ISS

Science.gov (United States)

García-Melendo, Enrique; Legarreta, Jon; Sánchez-Lavega, Agustín.; Pérez-Hoyos, Santiago; Hueso, Ricardo

2010-05-01

Detailed wind observations of the equatorial regions of the gaseous giant planets, Jupiter and Saturn, are crucial for understanding the basic problem of the global circulation and obtaining new detailed information on atmospheric phenomena. In this work we present high resolution data of Saturn's equatorial region wind profile from Cassini/ISS images. To retrieve wind measurements we applied an automatic cross correlator to image pairs taken by Cassini/ISS with the MT1, MT2, MT3 filters centred at the respective three methane absorbing bands of 619nm, 727nm, and 889nm, and with the adjacent continuum CB1, CB2, and CB3 filters. We obtained a complete high resolution coverage of Saturn's wind profile in the equatorial region. The equatorial jet displays an overall symmetric structure similar to that shown the by same region in Jupiter. This result suggests that, in accordance to some of the latest compressible atmosphere computer models, probably global winds in gaseous giants are deeply rooted in the molecular hydrogen layer. Wind profiles in the methane absorbing bands show the effect of strong vertical shear, ~40m/s per scale height, confirming previous results and an important decay in the wind intensity since the Voyager era (~100 m/s in the continuum and ~200 m/s in the methane absorbing band). We also report the discovery of a new feature, a very strong and narrow jet on the equator, about only 5 degrees wide, that despite the vertical shear maintains its intensity (~420 m/s) in both, the continuum and methane absorbing band filters. Acknowledgements: Work supported by the Spanish MICIIN AYA2009-10701 with FEDER and Grupos Gobierno Vasco IT-464-07.

Study on determination of 90Sr by liquid scintillation spectrometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhai Xiufang; Li Weiping; Tian Mei; Zou Ronghu

2012-01-01

Both of Liquid scintillation counting and Cerenkov counting can be used to determinate 90 Sr in samples by Liquid scintillation spectrometry. In this work, effects of scintillation vials wit-h different material, Liquid scintillation cocktails, sample volume, Strontium carrier, pH, quenching (chemical quenching and color quenching)are studied, and both counting methods are compared. For Liquid scintillation counting. The results show that the best appropriate volume ratio of sample and liquid scintillation cocktail is 8:12 for OPTIPHASE HISAFE-3 and OPTIPHASE HISAFE-2, stability of solution decreased when sample load exceeds the maximum load for both Liquid scintillation cocktails, and OPTIPHASE HISAFE-3 also show superior performance for high saline solution. The type of scintillation vial haven't clear influence on the MDA of 90 Sr. Chemical quenching and color quenching can decrease the counting efficiency. For Cerenkov counting, the lowest MDA is obtained when polyethylene plastic vial is used and sample volume is 20 ml. Color quenching decreases the counting efficiency, while there isn't chemical quenching for Cerenkov counting. The MDA of 90 Sr is 1.19 and 1.00 Bq/L for Liquid scintillation counting and Cerenkov counting with the optimal labeling condition. (authors)

Factors determining radiation stability of plastic scintillators

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gunder, O.A.; Voronkina, N.I. [National Ukranian Academy of Science, Kharkov (Ukraine). Inst. for Single Crystals; Barashkov, N.N.; Milinchuk, V.K.; Jdanov, G.S. [Karpov Inst. of Physical Chemistry, Moscow (Russian Federation)

1995-07-01

Polystyrene (PS) and polyvinylxylene (PVX) are the base materials for plastic scintillators. UV-Vis spectrophotometry, luminescence and EPR spectroscopy were performed on irradiated samples of PS and PVX with the p-terphenyl (TP) as primary luminophore and 1,4-di-2(5-phenyloxazolyl-1,3)benzene (POPOP) as secondary one. Dependence of the radioluminescence intensity of the scintillators on the concentration of the macroradicals formed in them in the process of irradiation was investigated. Dose dependence of the radiation stability of scintillators is discussed. (Author).

Factors determining radiation stability of plastic scintillators

Science.gov (United States)

Gunder, O. A.; Voronkina, N. I.; Barashkov, N. N.; Milinchuk, V. K.; Jdanov, G. S.

1995-07-01

Polystyrene (PS) and polyvinylxylene (PVX) are the base materials for plastic scintillators. UV-Vis spectrophotometry, luminescence and EPR spectroscopy were performed on irradiated samples of PS and PVX with the p-terphenyl (TP) as primary luminophore and 1,4-di-2(5-phenyloxazolyl-1,3)benzene (POPOP) as secondary one. Dependence of the radioluminescence intensity of the scintillators on the concentration of the macroradicals formed in them in the process of irradiation was investigated. Dose dependence of the radiation stability of scintillators is discussed.

Factors determining radiation stability of plastic scintillators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gunder, O.A.; Voronkina, N.I.

1995-01-01

Polystyrene (PS) and polyvinylxylene (PVX) are the base materials for plastic scintillators. UV-Vis spectrophotometry, luminescence and EPR spectroscopy were performed on irradiated samples of PS and PVX with the p-terphenyl (TP) as primary luminophore and 1,4-di-2(5-phenyloxazolyl-1,3)benzene (POPOP) as secondary one. Dependence of the radioluminescence intensity of the scintillators on the concentration of the macroradicals formed in them in the process of irradiation was investigated. Dose dependence of the radiation stability of scintillators is discussed. (Author)

No iron fertilization in the equatorial Pacific Ocean during the last ice age.

Science.gov (United States)

Costa, K M; McManus, J F; Anderson, R F; Ren, H; Sigman, D M; Winckler, G; Fleisher, M Q; Marcantonio, F; Ravelo, A C

2016-01-28

The equatorial Pacific Ocean is one of the major high-nutrient, low-chlorophyll regions in the global ocean. In such regions, the consumption of the available macro-nutrients such as nitrate and phosphate is thought to be limited in part by the low abundance of the critical micro-nutrient iron. Greater atmospheric dust deposition could have fertilized the equatorial Pacific with iron during the last ice age--the Last Glacial Period (LGP)--but the effect of increased ice-age dust fluxes on primary productivity in the equatorial Pacific remains uncertain. Here we present meridional transects of dust (derived from the (232)Th proxy), phytoplankton productivity (using opal, (231)Pa/(230)Th and excess Ba), and the degree of nitrate consumption (using foraminifera-bound δ(15)N) from six cores in the central equatorial Pacific for the Holocene (0-10,000 years ago) and the LGP (17,000-27,000 years ago). We find that, although dust deposition in the central equatorial Pacific was two to three times greater in the LGP than in the Holocene, productivity was the same or lower, and the degree of nitrate consumption was the same. These biogeochemical findings suggest that the relatively greater ice-age dust fluxes were not large enough to provide substantial iron fertilization to the central equatorial Pacific. This may have been because the absolute rate of dust deposition in the LGP (although greater than the Holocene rate) was very low. The lower productivity coupled with unchanged nitrate consumption suggests that the subsurface major nutrient concentrations were lower in the central equatorial Pacific during the LGP. As these nutrients are today dominantly sourced from the Subantarctic Zone of the Southern Ocean, we propose that the central equatorial Pacific data are consistent with more nutrient consumption in the Subantarctic Zone, possibly owing to iron fertilization as a result of higher absolute dust fluxes in this region. Thus, ice-age iron fertilization in the

Influence of the active area size and read-out method on the timing performance of SiPMs coupled to LYSO scintillators

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tarolli, Alessandro, E-mail: tarolli@fbk.eu [Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK), Trento (Italy); Gola, Alberto; Ferri, Alessandro; Pro, Tiziana; Serra, Nicola; Zorzi, Nicola; Piemonte, Claudio [Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK), Trento (Italy)

2013-02-21

In this work we report on the coincidence resolving time performance of SiPMs with different sizes, produced at FBK, coupled to the same LYSO scintillators. The measurements are performed both with and without the differential leading edge discriminator at three different temperatures, 20 °C, 0 °C and −20 °C. The photo-detectors feature an active area of 2×2 mm{sup 2} and 4×4 mm{sup 2}. The scintillators have a cross-section of 1.8×1.8 mm{sup 2} and height of 10 mm. The measurements show that, once we eliminate the effect of noise on the timing measurements, we obtain similar coincidence resolving times for the two SiPM sizes considered. This means that the SiPM capacitance, at least up to 4×4 mm{sup 2}, is not a limiting factor.

DETECTORS: scintillating fibres

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1994-01-01

In the continual search for improved detection techniques, new materials are continually proving profitable. A good example is scintillating plastic fibres - tiny transparent threads sometimes finer than a human hair which transmit light. The narrowness and flexibility of these fibres was a major breakthrough for endoscopy - non-invasive techniques for viewing the otherwise inaccessible in surgery or machine inspection. In a more sophisticated form, these fibres find ready application in communications technology, where the goal is to transmit information rather than electrical power, replacing conventional and unwieldy current-carrying wire conductors. In particle physics, fibres have long been used to take the tiny scintillations produced when high energy particles hit fluorescent materials and 'conduct' them to photosensitive detectors some distance away

Study of the peak shape in alpha spectra measured by liquid scintillation

CERN Document Server

Vera-Tome, F; Martin-Sanchez, A

2002-01-01

Liquid-scintillation counting allows the measurement of alpha and beta activities jointly or only of the alpha-emitting nuclides in a sample. Although the resolution of the alpha spectra is poorer than that attained with semiconductor detectors, it is still an attractive alternative. We describe here attempts to fit a peak shape to experimental liquid-scintillation alpha spectra and discuss the parameters affecting this shape, such as the PSA (pulse-shape analyser) level, vial type, shaking the sample, etc. Spectral analysis has been applied for complex alpha spectra.

Solar activity variations of equatorial spread F occurrence and sustenance during different seasons over Indian longitudes: Empirical model and causative mechanisms

Science.gov (United States)

Madhav Haridas, M. K.; Manju, G.; Arunamani, T.

2018-05-01

A comprehensive analysis using nearly two decades of ionosonde data is carried out on the seasonal and solar cycle variations of Equatorial Spread F (ESF) irregularities over magnetic equatorial location Trivandrum (8.5°N, 77°E). The corresponding Rayleigh Taylor (RT) instability growth rates (γ) are also estimated. A seasonal pattern of ESF occurrence and the corresponding γ is established for low solar (LSA), medium solar (MSA) and high solar (HSA) activity periods. For LSA, it is seen that the γ maximizes during post sunset time with comparable magnitudes for autumnal equinox (AE), vernal equinox (VE) and winter solstice (WS), while for summer solstice (SS) it maximizes in the post-midnight period. Concurrent responses are seen in the ESF occurrence pattern. For MSA, γ maximizes during post-sunset for VE followed by WS and AE while SS maximises during post-midnight period. The ESF occurrence for MSA is highest for VE (80%), followed by AE (70%), WS (60%) and SS (50%). In case of HSA, maximum γ occurs for VE followed by AE, WS and SS. The concurrent ESF occurrence maximizes for VE and AE (90%), WS and SS at 70%. The solar cycle variation of γ is examined. γ shows a linear variation with F10.7 cm flux. Further, ESF percentage occurrence and duration show an exponential and linear variation respectively with γ. An empirical model on the solar activity dependence of ESF occurrence and sustenance time over Indian longitudes is arrived at using the database spanning two solar cycles for the first time.

Penetration of ELF currents and electromagnetic fields into the Earth's equatorial ionosphere

Science.gov (United States)

Eliasson, B.; Papadopoulos, K.

2009-10-01

The penetration of extremely low frequency (ELF) transient electromagnetic fields and associated currents in the Earth's equatorial E-region plasma is studied theoretically and numerically. In the low-frequency regime, the plasma dynamics of the E-region is characterized by helicon waves since the ions are viscously coupled to neutrals while the electrons remain mobile. For typical equatorial E-region parameters, the plasma is magnetically insulated from penetration of very long timescale magnetic fields by a thin diffusive sheath. Wave penetration driven by a vertically incident pulse localized in space and time leads to both vertical penetration and the triggering of ELF helicon/whistler waves that carry currents obliquely to the magnetic field lines. The study presented here may have relevance for ELF wave generation by lightning discharges and seismic activity and can lead to new concepts in ELF/ULF injection in the earth-ionosphere waveguide.

Fast and sensitive determination of Sr-90 and SR-89 activity in milk by ion-chromatography and liquid scintillation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Figueiredo, V.; Herrmann, A.

1992-01-01

A method for fast and exact determination of both strontium isotopes in milk and other foodstuffs, combination high performance ion chromatographic separation with by liquid scintillation counting, which enables the desired results to be obtained with very satisfactory precision and reproducibility within 24 hours, has been developed. The lowest detectable activity lies by 3 Bq/liter for Sr-90 and 1 Bq/liter for Sr-89 which is satisfactory for assessing a situation in a time crisis. (author)

The D1 parameter for the equatorial F1 region

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adeniyi, J.O.; Radicella, S.M.

2002-01-01

This work is a contribution to the effort at improving the representation of the F1 equatorial ionospheric region in the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) model. The D1 parameter has been proposed for describing the F1 layer. We have therefore produced a maiden table of D1 parameter for an equatorial station. Diurnal and seasonal effects were considered. (author)

The role of the Indonesian Throughflow in equatorial Pacific thermocline ventilation

Science.gov (United States)

Rodgers, Keith B.; Cane, Mark A.; Naik, Naomi H.; Schrag, Daniel P.

1999-09-01

The role of the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) in the thermocline circulation of the low-latitude Pacific Ocean is explored using a high-resolution primitive equation ocean circulation model. Seasonally forced runs for a domain with an open Indonesian passage are compared with seasonally forced runs for a closed Pacific domain. Three cases are considered: one with no throughflow, one with 10 Sv of imposed ITF transport, and one with 20 Sv of ITF transport. Two idealized tracers, one that tags northern component subtropical water and another that tags southern component subtropical water, are used to diagnose the mixing ratio of northern and southern component waters in the equatorial thermocline. It is found that the mixing ratio of north/south component waters in the equatorial thermocline is highly sensitive to whether the model accounts for an ITF. Without an ITF, the source of equatorial undercurrent water is primarily of North Pacific origin, with the ratio of northern to southern component water being approximately 2.75 to 1. The ratio of northern to southern component water in the Equatorial Undercurrent with 10 Sv of ITF is approximately 1.4 to 1, and the ratio with 20 Sv of imposed ITF is 1 to 1.25. Estimates from data suggest a mean mixing ratio of northern to southern component water of less than 1 to 1. Assuming that the mixing ratio changes approximately linearly as the ITF transport varies between 10 and 20 Sv, an approximate balance between northern and southern component water is reached when the ITF transport is approximately 16 Sv. It is also shown that for the isopycnal surfaces within the core of the equatorial undercurrent, a 2°C temperature front exists across the equator in the western equatorial Pacific, beneath the warm pool. The implications of the model results and the temperature data for the heat budget of the equatorial Pacific are considered.

Estimation of low level gross alpha activities in the radioactive effluent using liquid scintillation counting technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bhade, Sonali P.D.; Johnson, Bella E.; Singh, Sanjay; Babu, D.A.R.

2012-01-01

A technique has been developed for simultaneous measurement of gross alpha and gross beta activity concentration in low level liquid effluent samples in presence of higher activity concentrations of tritium. For this purpose, alpha beta discriminating Pulse Shape Analysis Liquid Scintillation Counting (LSC) technique was used. Main advantages of this technique are easy sample preparation, rapid measurement and higher sensitivity. The calibration methodology for Quantulus1220 LSC based on PSA technique using 241 Am and 90 Sr/ 90 Y as alpha and beta standards respectively was described in detail. LSC technique was validated by measuring alpha and beta activity concentrations in test samples with known amount of 241 Am and 90 Sr/ 90 Y activities spiked in distilled water. The results obtained by LSC technique were compared with conventional planchet counting methods such as ZnS(Ag) and end window GM detectors. The gross alpha and gross beta activity concentrations in spiked samples, obtained by LSC technique were found to be within ±5% of the reference values. (author)

Red Emitting Phenyl-Polysiloxane Based Scintillators for Neutron Detection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dalla Palma, Matteo; Quaranta, Alberto; Marchi, Tommaso; Gramegna, Fabiana; Cinausero, Marco; Carturan, Sara; Collazuol, Gianmaria

2013-06-01

In this work, the performances of new red emitting phenyl- substituted polysiloxane based scintillators are described. Three dyes were dispersed in a phenyl-polysiloxane matrix in order to shift the scintillation wavelength towards the red part of the visible spectrum. PPO, Lumogen Violet (BASF) and Lumogen Red (BASF) were mixed to the starting resins with different wt. % and the analysis of the different samples was performed by means of fluorescence measurements. The scintillation yield to alpha particles at the different dye ratios was monitored by detecting either the full spectrum or the red part of the emitted light. Finally, thin red scintillators with selected compositions were coupled to Avalanche Photodiode sensors, which are usually characterized by higher efficiency in the red part of the spectrum. An increased light output of about 17% has been obtained comparing the red scintillators to standard blue emitting systems. Preliminary results on the detection of fast neutrons with the APD-red scintillator system are also presented. (authors)

LArGe: active background suppression using argon scintillation for the GERDA 0νββ-experiment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Agostini, M.; Budjas, D.; Schoenert, S.; Barnabe-Heider, M.; Cattadori, C.; Gangapshev, A.; Gusev, K.; Heisel, M.; Smolnikov, A.; Junker, M.; Klimenko, A.; Lubashevskiy, A.; Pelczar, K.; Zuzel, G.

2015-01-01

LArGe is a GERDA low-background test facility to study novel background suppression methods in a low-background environment, for future application in the GERDA experiment. Similar to GERDA, LArGe operates bare germanium detectors submersed into liquid argon (1 m 3 , 1.4tons), which in addition is instrumented with photomultipliers to detect argon scintillation light. The scintillation signals are used in anti-coincidence with the germanium detectors to effectively suppress background events that deposit energy in the liquid argon. The background suppression efficiency was studied in combination with a pulse shape discrimination (PSD) technique using a BEGe detector for various sources, which represent characteristic backgrounds to GERDA. Suppression factors of a few times 10 3 have been achieved. First background data of LArGe with a coaxial HPGe detector (without PSD) yield a background index of (0.12 - 4.6) x 10 -2 cts/(keV kg year) (90 % C.L.), which is at the level of GERDA Phase I. Furthermore, for the first time we monitor the natural 42 Ar abundance (parallel to GERDA), and have indication for the 2νββ-decay in natural germanium. These results show the effectivity of an active liquid argon veto in an ultra-low background environment. As a consequence, the implementation of a liquid argon veto in GERDA Phase II is pursued. (orig.)

LArGe: active background suppression using argon scintillation for the Gerda 0ν β β -experiment

Science.gov (United States)

Agostini, M.; Barnabé-Heider, M.; Budjáš, D.; Cattadori, C.; Gangapshev, A.; Gusev, K.; Heisel, M.; Junker, M.; Klimenko, A.; Lubashevskiy, A.; Pelczar, K.; Schönert, S.; Smolnikov, A.; Zuzel, G.

2015-10-01

LArGe is a Gerda low-background test facility to study novel background suppression methods in a low-background environment, for future application in the Gerda experiment. Similar to Gerda, LArGe operates bare germanium detectors submersed into liquid argon (1 m^3, 1.4 tons), which in addition is instrumented with photomultipliers to detect argon scintillation light. The scintillation signals are used in anti-coincidence with the germanium detectors to effectively suppress background events that deposit energy in the liquid argon. The background suppression efficiency was studied in combination with a pulse shape discrimination (PSD) technique using a BEGe detector for various sources, which represent characteristic backgrounds to Gerda. Suppression factors of a few times 10^3 have been achieved. First background data of LArGe with a coaxial HPGe detector (without PSD) yield a background index of (0.12-4.6)× 10^{-2} cts/(keV kg year) (90 % C.L.), which is at the level of Gerda Phase I. Furthermore, for the first time we monitor the natural ^{42}Ar abundance (parallel to Gerda), and have indication for the 2ν β β -decay in natural germanium. These results show the effectivity of an active liquid argon veto in an ultra-low background environment. As a consequence, the implementation of a liquid argon veto in Gerda Phase II is pursued.

LArGe: active background suppression using argon scintillation for the GERDA 0νββ-experiment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Agostini, M.; Budjas, D.; Schoenert, S. [Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Munich (Germany); Barnabe-Heider, M. [Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Munich (Germany); Max-Planck-Institut fuer Kernphysik, Heidelberg (Germany); Cattadori, C. [Universita degli Studi di Milano, Milan (Italy); INFN, Milan (Italy); Gangapshev, A. [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Kernphysik, Heidelberg (Germany); Institut for Nuclear Research, Moscow (Russian Federation); Gusev, K. [Technische Universitaet Muenchen, Munich (Germany); Joint Institut for Nuclear Research, Dubna (Russian Federation); National Research Center Kurchatov Institut, Moscow (Russian Federation); Heisel, M.; Smolnikov, A. [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Kernphysik, Heidelberg (Germany); Junker, M. [Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, Assergi (Italy); Klimenko, A.; Lubashevskiy, A. [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Kernphysik, Heidelberg (Germany); Joint Institut for Nuclear Research, Dubna (Russian Federation); Pelczar, K. [Jagellonian University, Cracow (Poland); Zuzel, G. [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Kernphysik, Heidelberg (Germany); Jagellonian University, Cracow (Poland)

2015-10-15

LArGe is a GERDA low-background test facility to study novel background suppression methods in a low-background environment, for future application in the GERDA experiment. Similar to GERDA, LArGe operates bare germanium detectors submersed into liquid argon (1 m{sup 3}, 1.4tons), which in addition is instrumented with photomultipliers to detect argon scintillation light. The scintillation signals are used in anti-coincidence with the germanium detectors to effectively suppress background events that deposit energy in the liquid argon. The background suppression efficiency was studied in combination with a pulse shape discrimination (PSD) technique using a BEGe detector for various sources, which represent characteristic backgrounds to GERDA. Suppression factors of a few times 10{sup 3} have been achieved. First background data of LArGe with a coaxial HPGe detector (without PSD) yield a background index of (0.12 - 4.6) x 10{sup -2} cts/(keV kg year) (90 % C.L.), which is at the level of GERDA Phase I. Furthermore, for the first time we monitor the natural {sup 42}Ar abundance (parallel to GERDA), and have indication for the 2νββ-decay in natural germanium. These results show the effectivity of an active liquid argon veto in an ultra-low background environment. As a consequence, the implementation of a liquid argon veto in GERDA Phase II is pursued. (orig.)

Occurrence of Equatorial Plasma Bubbles during Intense Magnetic Storms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chao-Song Huang

2011-01-01

Full Text Available An important issue in low-latitude ionospheric space weather is how magnetic storms affect the generation of equatorial plasma bubbles. In this study, we present the measurements of the ion density and velocity in the evening equatorial ionosphere by the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP satellites during 22 intense magnetic storms. The DMSP measurements show that deep ion density depletions (plasma bubbles are generated after the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF turns southward. The time delay between the IMF southward turning and the first DMSP detection of plasma depletions decreases with the minimum value of the IMF Bz, the maximum value of the interplanetary electric field (IEF Ey, and the magnitude of the Dst index. The results of this study provide strong evidence that penetration electric field associated with southward IMF during the main phase of magnetic storms increases the generation of equatorial plasma bubbles in the evening sector.

Permanent automatic recalibration system for scintillation camera

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Auphan, Michel.

1974-01-01

A permanent automatic recalibration system for a scintillation camera, of the type consisting chiefly of a collimator if necessary, a scintillator, a light guide and a network of n photomultipliers coupled to a display system, is described. It uses a device to form a single reference light signal common to all the photomultiplication lines, integrated to these latter and associated with a periodic calibration control generator. By means of associated circuits governed by the control generator the gain in each line is brought to and/or maintained at a value between fixed upper and lower limits. Steps are taken so that any gain variation in a given line is adjusted with respect to the reference light signal common to all the lines. The light signal falls preferably in the same part of the spectrum as the scintillations formed in the scintillator [fr

Ocean dynamics, not dust, have controlled equatorial Pacific productivity over the past 500,000 years

OpenAIRE

Winckler, Gisela; Anderson, Robert F.; Jaccard, Samuel L.; Marcantonio, Franco

2016-01-01

Biological productivity in the equatorial Pacific is relatively high compared with other low latitude regimes especially east of the dateline where divergence driven by the trade winds brings nutrient rich waters of the Equatorial Undercurrent to the surface. The equatorial Pacific is one of the three principal high nutrient low chlorophyll ocean regimes where biological utilization of nitrate and phosphate is limited in part by the availability of iron. Throughout most of the equatorial Paci...

Scintillation camera with second order resolution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Muehllehner, G.

1976-01-01

A scintillation camera for use in radioisotope imaging to determine the concentration of radionuclides in a two-dimensional area is described in which means is provided for second order positional resolution. The phototubes, which normally provide only a single order of resolution, are modified to provide second order positional resolution of radiation within an object positioned for viewing by the scintillation camera. The phototubes are modified in that multiple anodes are provided to receive signals from the photocathode in a manner such that each anode is particularly responsive to photoemissions from a limited portion of the photocathode. Resolution of radioactive events appearing as an output of this scintillation camera is thereby improved

Scintillation camera with second order resolution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1975-01-01

A scintillation camera is described for use in radioisotope imaging to determine the concentration of radionuclides in a two-dimensional area in which means is provided for second-order positional resolution. The phototubes which normally provide only a single order of resolution, are modified to provide second-order positional resolution of radiation within an object positioned for viewing by the scintillation camera. The phototubes are modified in that multiple anodes are provided to receive signals from the photocathode in a manner such that each anode is particularly responsive to photoemissions from a limited portion of the photocathode. Resolution of radioactive events appearing as an output of this scintillation camera is thereby improved

Lagrangian mixed layer modeling of the western equatorial Pacific

Science.gov (United States)

Shinoda, Toshiaki; Lukas, Roger

1995-01-01

Processes that control the upper ocean thermohaline structure in the western equatorial Pacific are examined using a Lagrangian mixed layer model. The one-dimensional bulk mixed layer model of Garwood (1977) is integrated along the trajectories derived from a nonlinear 1 1/2 layer reduced gravity model forced with actual wind fields. The Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) data are used to estimate surface freshwater fluxes for the mixed layer model. The wind stress data which forced the 1 1/2 layer model are used for the mixed layer model. The model was run for the period 1987-1988. This simple model is able to simulate the isothermal layer below the mixed layer in the western Pacific warm pool and its variation. The subduction mechanism hypothesized by Lukas and Lindstrom (1991) is evident in the model results. During periods of strong South Equatorial Current, the warm and salty mixed layer waters in the central Pacific are subducted below the fresh shallow mixed layer in the western Pacific. However, this subduction mechanism is not evident when upwelling Rossby waves reach the western equatorial Pacific or when a prominent deepening of the mixed layer occurs in the western equatorial Pacific or when a prominent deepening of the mixed layer occurs in the western equatorial Pacific due to episodes of strong wind and light precipitation associated with the El Nino-Southern Oscillation. Comparison of the results between the Lagrangian mixed layer model and a locally forced Eulerian mixed layer model indicated that horizontal advection of salty waters from the central Pacific strongly affects the upper ocean salinity variation in the western Pacific, and that this advection is necessary to maintain the upper ocean thermohaline structure in this region.

Development of TOF-PET using Compton scattering by plastic scintillators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kuramoto, M.; Nakamori, T.; Kimura, S.; Gunji, S.; Takakura, M.; Kataoka, J.

2017-01-01

We propose a time-of-flight (TOF) technique using plastic scintillators which have fast decay time of a few ns for positron emission tomography (PET). While the photoelectric absorption probability of the plastic for 511 keV gamma rays are extremely low due to its small density and effective atomic number, the cross section of Compton scattering is comparable to that of absorption by conventional inorganic scintillators. We thus propose TOF-PET using Compton scattering with plastic scintillators (Compton-PET), and performed fundamental experiments towards exploration of the Compton-PET capability. We demonstrated that the plastic scintillators achieved the better time resolution in comparison to LYSO(Ce) and GAGG(Ce) scintillators. In addition we evaluated the depth-of-interaction resolving capability with the plastic scintillators.

Development of TOF-PET using Compton scattering by plastic scintillators

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kuramoto, M., E-mail: kuramoto@maxwell.kj.yamagata-u.ac.jp [Yamagata University, Kojirakawa 1-4-12, Yamagata 990-8560 (Japan); Nakamori, T., E-mail: nakamori@maxwell.kj.yamagata-u.ac.jp [Yamagata University, Kojirakawa 1-4-12, Yamagata 990-8560 (Japan); Kimura, S.; Gunji, S.; Takakura, M. [Yamagata University, Kojirakawa 1-4-12, Yamagata 990-8560 (Japan); Kataoka, J. [Waseda University, Okubo 3-4-1, Shinjuku, Tokyo 169-8555 (Japan)

2017-02-11

We propose a time-of-flight (TOF) technique using plastic scintillators which have fast decay time of a few ns for positron emission tomography (PET). While the photoelectric absorption probability of the plastic for 511 keV gamma rays are extremely low due to its small density and effective atomic number, the cross section of Compton scattering is comparable to that of absorption by conventional inorganic scintillators. We thus propose TOF-PET using Compton scattering with plastic scintillators (Compton-PET), and performed fundamental experiments towards exploration of the Compton-PET capability. We demonstrated that the plastic scintillators achieved the better time resolution in comparison to LYSO(Ce) and GAGG(Ce) scintillators. In addition we evaluated the depth-of-interaction resolving capability with the plastic scintillators.

Development of TOF-PET using Compton scattering by plastic scintillators

Science.gov (United States)

Kuramoto, M.; Nakamori, T.; Kimura, S.; Gunji, S.; Takakura, M.; Kataoka, J.

2017-02-01

We propose a time-of-flight (TOF) technique using plastic scintillators which have fast decay time of a few ns for positron emission tomography (PET). While the photoelectric absorption probability of the plastic for 511 keV gamma rays are extremely low due to its small density and effective atomic number, the cross section of Compton scattering is comparable to that of absorption by conventional inorganic scintillators. We thus propose TOF-PET using Compton scattering with plastic scintillators (Compton-PET), and performed fundamental experiments towards exploration of the Compton-PET capability. We demonstrated that the plastic scintillators achieved the better time resolution in comparison to LYSO(Ce) and GAGG(Ce) scintillators. In addition we evaluated the depth-of-interaction resolving capability with the plastic scintillators.

Scintillation properties of CdF{sub 2} crystal

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yanagida, Takayuki, E-mail: yanagida@lsse.kyutech.ac.jp [Kyushu Institute of Technology, 2-4 Hibikino, Wakamatsu, Kitakyushu, Fukuoka 808-0196 (Japan); Fujimoto, Yutaka; Koshimizu, Masanori [Department of Applied Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, 6-6-07 Aoba, Aramaki, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8579 (Japan); Fukuda, Kentaro [Tokuyama Corp., 1-1 Mikage-cho, Shunan-shi, Yamaguchi 745-8648 Japan (Japan)

2015-01-15

CdF{sub 2} single crystal was prepared by Tokuyama Corp. with the μ-PD method to investigate Auger free luminescence of this material. From optical transmittance spectrum, bandgap wavelength was around 280 nm. In X-ray induced radioluminescence spectrum, emission lines appeared around 350 nm and 420 nm. Excitation wavelength was investigated and excitation peak was around 250 nm. Photoluminescence and scintillation decay times were evaluated and decay time was few ns. Temperature dependence of X-ray induced radioluminescence was compared with conventional BaF{sub 2} scintillator and scintillation of CdF{sub 2} decreased when the temperature increased. Consequently, scintillation of CdF{sub 2} is possibly emission at color centers or exciton related one. - Highlights: • CdF{sub 2} crystal scinitillator was synthesized. • Emission wavelengths of CdF{sub 2} appeared around 350 and 420 nm. • Scintillation decay time of CdF{sub 2} was quite fast, 1.75 ns. • Excitation bands were investigated by using Synchrotron facility, UVSOR.

Optimization of light collection from crystal scintillators for cryogenic experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mokina, V.M.; Danevich, F.A.; Kobychev, V.V.; Kraus, H.; Mikhailik, V.B.; Nagornaya, L.L.

2012-01-01

Cryogenic scintillation bolometers are a promising technique to search for dark matter and neutrinoless double decay. Improvement of light collection and energy resolution are important requirements in such experiments. Energy resolutions and relative pulse amplitudes of scintillation detectors using ZnWO 4 scintillation crystals of different shapes (cylinder 20x20 mm and hexagonal prism with diagonal 20 mm and height 20 mm), reflector materials and shapes, optical contact and surface properties (polished and diffused) were measured. The crystal scintillator of hexagonal shape shows the better energy resolution and pulse amplitude. The best energy resolution (FWHM = 9.3 % for 662 keV γ quanta of 137 Cs) was obtained with a hexagonal scintillator with all surfaces diffuse, in optical contact with a PMT and surrounded by a reflector (3M) of size 26x25 mm. In the geometry w ithout optical contact r epresenting the conditions of light collection for a cryogenic scintillating bolometer the best energy resolution and relative pulse amplitude was obtained for a hexagonal shape scintillator with diffuse side and polished face surfaces, surrounded by a reflector with a gap between the scintillator and the reflector

Paraffin scintillator for radioassay of solid support samples

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fujii, Haruo; Takiue, Makoto

1989-01-01

A new paraffin scintillator used for solid support sample counting has been proposed, and its composition and various characteristics are described. The solid support sample treated with this scintillator can be easily handled because of rigid sample conditions. This technique provides great advantages such as the elimination of a large volume of scintillator and little radioactive waste material by using an economical polyethylene bag instead of the conventional counting vial. (author)

Photosynthetically active radiation and comparison of methods for its estimation in equatorial Singapore

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Puay Yok; Ismail, Mirza Rifqi Bin

2016-02-01

Photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) is an important input variable for urban climate, crop modelling and ecosystem services studies. Despite its importance, only a few empirical studies have been conducted on PAR, its relationship to global solar radiation and sky conditions and its estimation in the tropics. We report in this study, the characterisation of PAR in Singapore through direct measurements and development of models for its estimation using input variables of global solar radiation ( H), photometric radiation ( L), clearness index ( k t ) and sky view factor (SVF). Daily PAR showed a good correlation with daily H and had a comparatively small seasonal variation in PAR due to Singapore's equatorial position. The ratio of PAR to H ( PAR/ H) showed a slight depression in midyear from May to August, which correlated well with seasonal patterns in rainfall over the study period. Hourly PAR/ H increased throughout the day. Three empirical models developed in this study were able to predict daily PAR satisfactorily, with the most accurate model being one which included both H and k t as independent variables. A regression model for estimation of PAR under shaded conditions using SVF produced satisfactory estimation of daily PAR but was prone to high mean percentage error at low PAR levels.

Scintillators for positron emission tomography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moses, W.W.; Derenzo, S.E.

1995-09-01

Like most applications that utilize scintillators for gamma detection, Positron Emission Tomography (PET) desires materials with high light output, short decay time, and excellent stopping power that are also inexpensive, mechanically rugged, and chemically inert. Realizing that this ''ultimate'' scintillator may not exist, this paper evaluates the relative importance of these qualities and describes their impact on the imaging performance of PET. The most important PET scintillator quality is the ability to absorb 511 keV photons in a small volume, which affects the spatial resolution of the camera. The dominant factor is a short attenuation length (≤ 1.5 cm is required), although a high photoelectric fraction is also important (> 30% is desired). The next most important quality is a short decay time, which affects both the dead time and the coincidence timing resolution. Detection rates for single 511 keV photons can be extremely high, so decay times ≤ 500 ns are essential to avoid dead time losses. In addition, positron annihilations are identified by time coincidence so ≤5 ns fwhm coincidence pair timing resolution is required to identify events with narrow coincidence windows, reducing contamination due to accidental coincidences. Current trends in PET cameras are toward septaless, ''fully-3D'' cameras, which have significantly higher count rates than conventional 2-D cameras and so place higher demands on scintillator decay time. Light output affects energy resolution, and thus the ability of the camera to identify and reject events where the initial 511 keV photon has undergone Compton scatter in the patient. The scatter to true event fraction is much higher in fully-3D cameras than in 2-D cameras, so future PET cameras would benefit from scintillators with a 511 keV energy resolution < 10--12% fwhm

Energy resolution of scintillation detectors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moszyński, M., E-mail: M.Moszynski@ncbj.gov.pl; Syntfeld-Każuch, A.; Swiderski, L.; Grodzicka, M.; Iwanowska, J.; Sibczyński, P.; Szczęśniak, T.

2016-01-01

According to current knowledge, the non-proportionality of the light yield of scintillators appears to be a fundamental limitation of energy resolution. A good energy resolution is of great importance for most applications of scintillation detectors. Thus, its limitations are discussed below; which arise from the non-proportional response of scintillators to gamma rays and electrons, being of crucial importance to the intrinsic energy resolution of crystals. The important influence of Landau fluctuations and the scattering of secondary electrons (δ-rays) on intrinsic resolution is pointed out here. The study on undoped NaI and CsI at liquid nitrogen temperature with a light readout by avalanche photodiodes strongly suggests that the non-proportionality of many crystals is not their intrinsic property and may be improved by selective co-doping. Finally, several observations that have been collected in the last 15 years on the influence of the slow components of light pulses on energy resolution suggest that more complex processes are taking place in the scintillators. This was observed with CsI(Tl), CsI(Na), ZnSe(Te), and undoped NaI at liquid nitrogen temperature and, finally, for NaI(Tl) at temperatures reduced below 0 °C. A common conclusion of these observations is that the highest energy resolution, and particularly intrinsic resolution measured with the scintillators, characterized by two or more components of the light pulse decay, is obtainable when the spectrometry equipment integrates the whole light of the components. In contrast, the slow components observed in many other crystals degrade the intrinsic resolution. In the limiting case, afterglow could also be considered as a very slow component that spoils the energy resolution. The aim of this work is to summarize all of the above observations by looking for their origin.

Engineering activities on the ITER representative diagnostic equatorial port plug

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Meunier, L.; Doceul, L.; Salasca, S.; Martins, J.-P.; Jullien, F.; Dechelle, Christian; Bidaud, Pierre; Pilard, Vincent; Terra, Alexis; Ogea, Mathieu; Ciattaglia, Emanuela; Walker, Christopher

2009-01-01

Most of ITER diagnostic systems are integrated in port plugs, which are water cooled stainless steel structures inserted into the vacuum vessel ports. The port plug must provide basic functions such as neutron and gamma shielding, supporting the first wall armour (BSM), closing the vacuum vessel ports, while supporting the diagnostic equipments. ITER diagnostic port plug must resist a severe environment like high temperature due to neutron interaction with the structures and high electromechanical loading during disruptions events. CEA has contributed to the design and integration tasks in the frame of the representative equatorial port plug EQ no. 01, in particular on the engineering, structural and thermal finite element analysis. These detailed analyses have highlighted some design issues which were worked out through different solutions. This paper contains a description of the engineering activities performed such as: -The static mechanical calculations of the top plate closure system under disruption load. -The static mechanical calculations of the BSM attachment to the port plug. These two first studies led to design changes proposals which significantly improved the behaviour of the structures but also showed that the safety margin with respect to design limits is quite low. -The design of a Diagnostic Shield Module (DSM) integrated inside the port plug and a proposition of attachment scheme, with respect to disruption loads. The manufacturing of the DSM has been taken into account, as well as diagnostic integration inside the structure and maintenance aspects. -The thermal assessment of the port plug under neutronic load during normal operation, with the optimization of the cooling system. The maximum temperature calculated in normal operation has been reduced from 900 deg. C to less than 400 deg. C in the front plate; and the cooling arrangement at the back of the port plug has been simplified without important temperature increase.

Engineering activities on the ITER representative diagnostic equatorial port plug

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Meunier, L. [Association Euratom CEA, CEA/DSM/IRFM (France)], E-mail: lmeunier@cea.fr; Doceul, L.; Salasca, S.; Martins, J.-P.; Jullien, F.; Dechelle, Christian; Bidaud, Pierre; Pilard, Vincent; Terra, Alexis; Ogea, Mathieu [Association Euratom CEA, CEA/DSM/IRFM (France); Ciattaglia, Emanuela [EFDA CSU, Garching (Germany); Walker, Christopher [ITER International Organisation (France)

2009-06-15

Most of ITER diagnostic systems are integrated in port plugs, which are water cooled stainless steel structures inserted into the vacuum vessel ports. The port plug must provide basic functions such as neutron and gamma shielding, supporting the first wall armour (BSM), closing the vacuum vessel ports, while supporting the diagnostic equipments. ITER diagnostic port plug must resist a severe environment like high temperature due to neutron interaction with the structures and high electromechanical loading during disruptions events. CEA has contributed to the design and integration tasks in the frame of the representative equatorial port plug EQ no. 01, in particular on the engineering, structural and thermal finite element analysis. These detailed analyses have highlighted some design issues which were worked out through different solutions. This paper contains a description of the engineering activities performed such as: -The static mechanical calculations of the top plate closure system under disruption load. -The static mechanical calculations of the BSM attachment to the port plug. These two first studies led to design changes proposals which significantly improved the behaviour of the structures but also showed that the safety margin with respect to design limits is quite low. -The design of a Diagnostic Shield Module (DSM) integrated inside the port plug and a proposition of attachment scheme, with respect to disruption loads. The manufacturing of the DSM has been taken into account, as well as diagnostic integration inside the structure and maintenance aspects. -The thermal assessment of the port plug under neutronic load during normal operation, with the optimization of the cooling system. The maximum temperature calculated in normal operation has been reduced from 900 deg. C to less than 400 deg. C in the front plate; and the cooling arrangement at the back of the port plug has been simplified without important temperature increase.

The physical and theoretical basis of solar-terrestrial relationships 1. Equatorial locations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Njau, E.C.

1988-07-01

The theory of solar-terrestrial relationships developed earlier by the author is extended to incorporate expressions that represent the non-linear responses of the earth-atmosphere system to incoming solar radiation in a more detailed manner. Application of the extended theory to equatorial locations leads to new and interesting features that are consistent with past observations. It also predicts the existence of new oscillations in the equatorial atmosphere whose causative physical processes are given and explained. Non-equatorial locations are treated along similar lines in Part 2 of the series. (author). 44 refs

Plasma instabilities in the ionosphere at the crest of anomaly region

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sarkar, Shivalika, E-mail: shivalikasarkar@gmail.com [Department of Education in Science and Mathematics, Regional Institute of Education, Bhopal – 462013 (India); Tiwari, Sunita, E-mail: suni-tiwari@yahoo.co.in [LNCT, Kalchuri Nagar, Raisen Road, Bhopal (India); Gwal, A. K., E-mail: ashok.gwal@gmail.com [Department of Physics, Barkatullah University, Bhopal-462026 (India)

2015-07-31

Comparison of the in situ density fluctuations measured by the DEMETER satellite with ground based GPS receiver measurements at the equatorial anomaly station Bhopal [geographic coordinates (23.2°N, 77.6°E); geomagnetic coordinates (14.29° N, 151.12°E)] for the low solar activity year, 2005, are presented in this paper. The Langmuir Probe experiment and Plasma Analyzer onboard DEMETER measure the electron and ion densities respectively. It is interesting to note that in situ density fluctuations observed on magnetic flux tubes that pass over Bhopal can be used as indicator of ionospheric scintillations at that site. Many cases of density fluctuations and associated scintillations have been observed during descending low solar activity period.

Liquid emulsion scintillators which solidify for facile disposal

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

O'Brien, R.E.; Krieger, J.K.

1981-01-01

A liquid organic scintillation cocktail is described which counts solutions of radiolabelled compounds containing up to ten % by volume of water with high efficiency and is readily polymerizable to a solid for easy disposal. The cocktail comprises a polymerizable organic solvent, a solubilizing agent, an intermediate solvent, and an organic scintillator. A method of disposing of liquid organic scintillation cocktail waste and a kit useful for practising the method are also described. (U.K.)

Design of A HPGe-Plastic Scintillator Compton Suppression Spectrometer for Neutron Activation Analysis and Radio environmental Studies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sharshar, T.; Badran, H.; Elnimr, T.

1998-01-01

The design of a compton suppression spectrometer consisting of a 10% p-type HPGe detector and an annular anti-Compton shield made of N E-102 A plastic scintillator is described. The height of the guard plastic- scintillation detector was optimized experimentally using a NaI(Ti) ring, consisting of five NaI(Ti) detectors. The annular guard detector is divided to four optically isolated quarters to enhance the light collection. Each quarter of the guard detector was tested and satisfying results are obtained

The measurement of temperature effect of light output of scintillators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ji Changsong; Zhou Zaiping; Zhang Longfang

1999-01-01

The author describes a experiment equipment used for measurement of temperature effect of light output of scintillators; gives some measurement results of temperature effect of light output for NaI(Tl), CsI(Tl), plastic scintillator, ZnS(Ag), anthracene crystal glass scintillator; analyzes the error factors affecting the measurement results. The total uncertainty of the temperature effect measurement for NaI(Tl) and plastic scintillator is 11%

Current status of liquid scintillation counting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Klingler, G.W.

1981-01-01

Scintillation counting of alpha particles has been used since the turn of the century. The advent of pulse shape discrimination has made this method of detection accurate and reliable. The history, concepts and development of scintillation counting and pulse shape discrimination are discussed. A brief look at the ongoing work in the consolidation of components now used for pulse shape discrimination is included

Scintillation camera with improved output means

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lange, K.; Wiesen, E.J.; Woronowicz, E.M.

1978-01-01

In a scintillation camera system, the output pulse signals from an array of photomultiplier tubes are coupled to the inputs of individual preamplifiers. The preamplifier output signals are coupled to circuitry for computing the x and y coordinates of the scintillations. A cathode ray oscilloscope is used to form an image corresponding with the pattern in which radiation is emitted by a body. Means for improving the uniformity and resolution of the scintillations are provided. The means comprise biasing means coupled to the outputs of selected preamplifiers so that output signals below a predetermined amplitude are not suppressed and signals falling within increasing ranges of amplitudes are increasingly suppressed. In effect, the biasing means make the preamplifiers non-linear for selected signal levels

BC-454 boron-loaded plastic scintillator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bellian, J.G.

1984-01-01

Prototype samples of plastic scintillators containing up to 10% by weight of natural boron have been produced. The maximum size scintillators made to date are 28 mm dia. x 100 mm long. Rods containing up to 2% boron are now made routinely and work is progressing on higher concentrations. The plastics are clear and emit the same blue fluorescence as other common plastic scintillators. It is expected that rods up to 3'' dia. containing 5% boron will be produced during the next few months. BC-454 is particularly useful in neutron research, materials studies, some types of neutron dosimetry, and monitoring of medium to high energy neutrons in the presence of other types radiation. It combines attractive features that enhance its usefulness to the physics community

R&D on scintillation materials for novel ionizing radiation detectors for High Energy Physics, medical imaging and industrial applications

CERN Multimedia

Chipaux, R; Rinaldi, D; Boursier, Y M; Vasilyev, A; Tikhomirov, V; Morel, C; Choi, Y; Tamulaitis, G

2002-01-01

The Crystal Clear Collaboration (CCC) was approved by the Detector R&D Committee as RD18 in 1990 with the objective of developing new inorganic scintillators suitable for crystal electromagnetic calorimeters of LHC experiments. From 1990 to 1994, CCC made an intensive investigation for the quest of the most adequate ideal scintillator for the LHC; three main candidates were identified and extensively studied : CeF$_{3}$, PbWO$_{4}$ and heavy scintillating glasses. Lead tungstate was chosen by CMS and ALICE as the most cost effective crystal compliant to LHC conditions. Today 76648 PWO crystals are installed in CMS and 17920 in ALICE. After this success Crystal clear has continued its investigation on new scintillators and the understanding of scintillation mechanisms and light transfer properties in particular : The understanding of cerium ion as activator, The development of LuAP, LuYAP crystals for medical imaging applications, (CERN patent) Investigation of Ytterbium based scintillators for solar ne...

Fiber-optic multipoint radiation sensing system using waveguide scintillators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maekawa, Tatsuyuki; Yoda, Masaki; Tanaka, Koutarou; Masumaru, Tarou; Morimoto, Souichirou.

1996-01-01

Novel fiber-optic radiation sensors and a multipoint measurement method that takes advantage of them have been developed. The new sensor design, which we call a 'waveguide scintillator', consists of a scintillating material and a wavelength-shifting fiber (WLSF). The WLSF is embedded in the scintillating material, and each end is connected to a transparent optical fiber. These waveguide scintillators can be connected in series along an optical fiber loop to form a radiation monitoring system, and each end of the fiber loop is terminated with a photodetector. This new radiation monitoring arrangement dispenses with the need for electronic apparatus at each measuring point and consequently improves resistance to noise. Furthermore, it offers the advantages of multipoint monitoring - meaning that radiation intensity can be measured at multiple sensors - using only two photodetectors. We have examined the light output characteristics and time resolution of a prototype arrangement of these new waveguide scintillators, thus confirming the feasibility of multipoint measurements using a system of multiple waveguide scintillators connected in series in an optical fiber loop. (author)

Activity of LUMEN (1996-97) Understanding of PbWO4 Scintillator Characteristics and their Optimisation

CERN Document Server

Baccaro, Stefania; Borgia, Bruno; Cecilia, Angelica; Croci, S; Dafinei, Ioan; Diemoz, Marcella; Fabeni, P; Festinesi, Armando; Jarolímek, O; Longo, Egidio; Martini, M; Mihoková, E; Montecchi, Marco; Nikl, M; Nitsch, K; Organtini, Giovanni; Pazzi, G P; Spinolo, G; Vedda, A

1998-01-01

The aim of the LUMEN co-operation, supported by INFN, is to obtain ful experimental characterisation and deep expertise of heavy scintillator for high energy physics. The advantage of this collaboration was mainly in the complementary character of the experimental techniques available in the partner laboratories and in the availability of highly experienced scientists indifferent fields. Furthermore close feedback to technological laboratories preparing on request PWO samples appeared extremely helpful. The present paper reports on the most important results obtained during the LUMEN activity in 1996-97. The aim of the report is to provide also enough useful information for the PWO application and novel ideas to stimulate further interest for new detectors as well as application in different fields.

Detection of gamma-neutron radiation by solid-state scintillation detectors. Detection of gamma-neutron radiation by novel solid-state scintillation detectors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ryzhikov, V.; Grinyov, B.; Piven, L.; Onyshchenko, G.; Sidletskiy, O. [Institute for Scintillation Materials of the NAS of Ukraine, Kharkov, (Ukraine); Naydenov, S. [Institute for Single Crystals of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kharkov, (Ukraine); Pochet, T. [DETEC-Europe, Vannes (France); Smith, C. [Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, CA (United States)

2015-07-01

It is known that solid-state scintillators can be used for detection of both gamma radiation and neutron flux. In the past, neutron detection efficiencies of such solid-state scintillators did not exceed 5-7%. At the same time it is known that the detection efficiency of the gamma-neutron radiation characteristic of nuclear fissionable materials is by an order of magnitude higher than the efficiency of detection of neutron fluxes alone. Thus, an important objective is the creation of detection systems that are both highly efficient in gamma-neutron detection and also capable of exhibiting high gamma suppression for use in the role of detection of neutron radiation. In this work, we present the results of our experimental and theoretical studies on the detection efficiency of fast neutrons from a {sup 239}Pu-Be source by the heavy oxide scintillators BGO, GSO, CWO and ZWO, as well as ZnSe(Te, O). The most probable mechanism of fast neutron interaction with nuclei of heavy oxide scintillators is the inelastic scattering (n, n'γ) reaction. In our work, fast neutron detection efficiencies were determined by the method of internal counting of gamma-quanta that emerge in the scintillator from (n, n''γ) reactions on scintillator nuclei with the resulting gamma energies of ∼20-300 keV. The measured efficiency of neutron detection for the scintillation crystals we considered was ∼40-50 %. The present work included a detailed analysis of detection efficiency as a function of detector and area of the working surface, as well as a search for new ways to create larger-sized detectors of lower cost. As a result of our studies, we have found an unusual dependence of fast neutron detection efficiency upon thickness of the oxide scintillators. An explanation for this anomaly may involve the competition of two factors that accompany inelastic scattering on the heavy atomic nuclei. The transformation of the energy spectrum of neutrons involved in the (n, n

Study of the correlation of scintillation decay and emission wavelength

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yanagida, Takayuki; Fujimoto, Yutaka; Yamaji, Akihiro; Kawaguchi, Noriaki; Kamada, Kei; Totsuka, Daisuke; Fukuda, Kentaro; Yamanoi, Kohei; Nishi, Ryosuke; Kurosawa, Shunsuke; Shimizu, Toshihiko; Sarukura, Nobuhiko

2013-01-01

In photoluminescence which directly excites the emission center of phosphor material is known to have a correlation between the emission wavelength and the decay time based on quantum mechanics. In scintillation phenomenon, host lattice of the material is first excited by ionizing radiation and then the excitation energy is transferred to emission centers. For the first time, we investigated the correlation between the scintillation decay and the emission wavelength by using pulse X-ray equipped streak camera system which could observe time and wavelength resolved scintillation phenomenon. Investigated materials were Ce 3+ , Pr 3+ and Nd 3+ doped oxides and fluorides which all showed 5d-4f transition based emission. As a result, we obtained the relation that τ (scintillation decay time) was proportional to the λ 2.15 (emission wavelength). -- Highlights: ► The correlation between emission wavelength and scintillation decay time is investigated. ► Photoluminescence decay times are also evaluated and compared with scintillation decay times. ► It is proved the relaxation process in emission center is dominant even in scintillation decay

Equatorial ionospheric electric fields during the November 2004 magnetic storm

OpenAIRE

Fejer, Bela G.; Jensen, J. W.; Kikuchi, T.; Abdu, M. A.; Chau, J. L.

2007-01-01

[1] We use radar measurements from the Jicamarca Radio Observatory, magnetometer observations from the Pacific sector and ionosonde data from Brazil to study equatorial ionospheric electric fields during the November 2004 geomagnetic storm. Our data show very large eastward and westward daytime electrojet current perturbations with lifetimes of about an hour (indicative of undershielding and overshielding prompt penetration electric fields) in the Pacific equatorial region during the November...

Sporadic-E associated with the Leonid meteor shower event of November 1998 over low and equatorial latitudes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H. Chandra

2001-01-01

Full Text Available Rapid radio soundings were made over Ahmedabad, a low latitude station during the period 16–20 November 1998 to study the sporadic-E layer associated with the Leonid shower activity using the KEL Aerospace digital ionosonde. Hourly ionograms for the period 11 November to 24 November were also examined during the years from 1994 to 1998. A distinct increase in sporadic-E layer occurrence is noticed on 17, 18 and 19 November from 1996 to 1998. The diurnal variations  of  f0Es and fbEs also show significantly enhanced values for the morning hours of 18 and 19 November 1998. The ionograms clearly show strong sporadic-E reflections at times of peak shower activity with multiple traces in the altitude range of 100–140 km in few ionograms. Sporadic-E layers with multiple structures in altitude are also seen in some of the ionograms (quarter hourly at Thumba, situated near the magnetic equator. Few of ionograms recorded at Kodaikanal, another equatorial station, also show sporadic- E reflections in spite of the transmitter power being significantly lower. These new results highlighting the effect of intense meteor showers in the equatorial and low latitude E-region are presented.Key words. Ionosphere (equatorial ionosphere – Radio science (ionospheric physics

LET dependence of scintillation yields in liquid argon

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Doke, Tadayoshi; Hitachi, Akira; Kikuchi, Jun; Crawford, H J; Lindstrom, P J; Masuda, Kimiaki; Shibamura, Eido; Takahashi, Tan

1988-06-01

Scintillation yields (scintillation intensity per unit absorbed energy) in liquid argon for ionizing particles are reviewed as a function of LET for the particles. The maximum scintillation yield, which is obtained for relativistic heavy ions from Ne to La, is about 1.2 times larger than that for gamma rays in NaI(Tl) crystal. In the low LET region, the scintillation yields for relativistic electrons, protons and He ions are 10-20% lower than the maximum yield. This tendency can be explained by taking into account the existence of the electrons which have escaped from their parent ions. In the high LET region, a quenching effect due to high ionization density is observed for alpha particles, fission fragments and relativistic Au ions.

Liquid scintillation cocktails comparison for tritium contamination measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bazzarri, S.; Belloni, P.

1996-01-01

Liquid scintillation counting is one of the most used techniques for the measurements of tritium contamination. Until few years ago a problem related to this kind of measurement was the potential toxicity of the liquid cocktails used to produce the required scintillation. Some new products that guarantee an almost negligible impact on the environment and that are no longer toxic for the operators are now available. Some of this new scintillation cocktail are suitable to be used for tritium measurement. Due to the great benefit from the health point of view of these new materials a test of their scintillation performance has been done at the ENEA centers to select the product having the best characteristics for tritium measurement. (author)

Charged particle scintillation mass spectrometer