Development of real-time position detection system for single-ion hit

Abstract

A real-time position detection system has been developed for a single-ion hit. The system is composed of a position sensitive camera unit and a luminescent scintillator. The camera unit includes 512×512 pixel electron-multiplier charge-coupled device, an image intensifier tube, and an object lens with a working distance of 101mm. To obtain a highly sensitive luminescent scintillator for the detection of a single ion in the mega-electron-volt region, we investigate the photoluminescence properties of α-Al2O3 single-crystals implanted with Eu(Al2O3:Eu) at a fluence ranging from 1014 to 1016cm−2. The Al2O3:Eu samples were annealed at temperature from 500°C to 900°C. The results of 15-MeV O single-ion hit experiments using Al2O3:Eu with a fluence of 3.0×1016cm−2 annealed for 0.5h at 600°C indicate that our system is sufficiently sensitive to detect the single-ion hit with a spatial resolution of 1μm in real time.