Cesium Iodide Scintillator Research Articles

PLEIADES: A picosecond Compton scattering x-ray source for advanced backlighting and time-resolved material studies

The PLEIADES (Picosecond Laser-Electron Inter-Action for the Dynamical Evaluation of Structures) facility has produced first light at 70 keV. This milestone offers a new opportunity to develop laser-driven, compact, tunable x-ray sources for critical applications such as diagnostics for the National Ignition Facility and time-resolved material studies. The electron beam was focused to 50 μm rms, at 57 MeV, with 260 pC of charge, a relative energy spread of 0.2%, and a normalized emittance of 5 mm mrad horizontally and 13 mm mrad vertically. The scattered 820 nm laser pulse had an energy of 180 mJ and a duration of 54 fs. Initial x rays were captured with a cooled charge-coupled device using a cesium iodide scintillator; the peak photon energy was approximately 78 keV, with a total x-ray flux of 1.3×106 photons/shot, and the observed angular distribution found to agree very well with three-dimensional codes. Simple K-edge radiography of a tantalum foil showed good agreement with the theoretical divergence-angle dependence of the x-ray energy. Optimization of the x-ray dose is currently under way, with the goal of reaching 108 photons/shot and a peak brightness approaching 1020 photons/mm2/mrad2/s/0.1% bandwidth.

A flat-panel detector based micro-CT system: performance evaluation for small-animal imaging

A dedicated small-animal x-ray micro computed tomography (micro-CT) system has been developed to screen laboratory small animals such as mice and rats. The micro-CT system consists of an indirect-detection flat-panel x-ray detector with a field-of-view of 120 × 120 mm2, a microfocus x-ray source, a rotational subject holder and a parallel data processing system. The flat-panel detector is based on a matrix-addressed photodiode array fabricated by a CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) process coupled to a CsI:Tl (thallium-doped caesium iodide) scintillator as an x-ray-to-light converter. Principal imaging performances of the micro-CT system have been evaluated in terms of image uniformity, voxel noise and spatial resolution. It has been found that the image non-uniformity mainly comes from the structural non-uniform sensitivity pattern of the flat-panel detector and the voxel noise is about 48 CT numbers at the voxel size of 100 × 100 × 200 µm3 and the air kerma of 286 mGy. When the magnification ratio is 2, the spatial resolution of the micro-CT system is about 14 lp/mm (line pairs per millimetre) that is almost determined by the flat-panel detector showing about 7 lp/mm resolving power. Through low-contrast phantom imaging studies, the minimum resolvable contrast has been found to be less than 36 CT numbers at the air kerma of 95 mGy. Some laboratory rat imaging results are presented.

Measurement of the presampled two-dimensional modulation transfer function of digital imaging systems.

The purpose of this work was to develop methods to measure the presampled two-dimensional modulation transfer function (2D MTF) of digital imaging systems. A custom x-ray "point source" phantom was created by machining 256 holes with diameter 0.107 mm through a 0.5-mm-thick copper plate. The phantom was imaged several times, resulting in many images of individual x-ray "spots." The center of each spot (with respect to the pixel matrix) was determined to subpixel accuracy by fitting each spot to a 2D Gaussian function. The subpixel spot center locations were used to create a 5 x oversampled system point spread function (PSF), which characterizes the optical and electrical properties of the system and is independent of the pixel sampling of the original image. The modulus of the Fourier transform of the PSF was calculated. Next, the Fourier function was normalized to the zero frequency value. Finally, the Fourier transform function was divided by the first-order Bessel function that defined the frequency content of the holes, resulting in the presampled 2D MTF. The presampled 2D MTF of a 0.1 mm pixel pitch computed radiography system and 0.2 mm pixel pitch flat panel digital imaging system that utilized a cesium iodide scintillator was measured. Comparison of the axial components of the 2D MTF to one-dimensional MTF measurements acquired using an edge device method demonstrated that the two methods produced consistent results.

Solid-state detector system for measuring concentrations of tritiated water vapour and other radioactive gases

A detector system was built using a silicon photodiode plus preamplifier and a cesium iodide scintillator plus preamplifier that were commercially available. The potential of the system for measuring concentrations of tritiated water vapour in the presence of other radioactive sources was investigated. For purposes of radiation protection, the sensitivity of the detector system was considered too low for measuring tritiated water vapour concentrations in workplaces such as nuclear power plants . Nevertheless, the spectrometry capability of the system was used successfully to differentiate amongst some radioactive gases in laboratory tests. Although this relatively small system can measure radioactive noble gases as well as tritiated water vapour concentrations, its response to photons remains an issue.

Full field digital mammography scanner

We describe the key features of a pre-production, slot-scan digital mammography system. A number of these units have been used in clinical studies over the past year for the purpose of demonstrating their equivalence to the conventional film-screen devices. Since the clinical data has not yet been fully analyzed, it is not possible to make definitive claims. However, with hundreds of patients examined, the results appear to leave very little doubt the SenoScan® digital mammography system will prove equivalent to the conventional technology. The detector developed for this system has a sensitive area 1.0 cm wide by 22 cm long. It is constructed by abutting four charge-coupled-device (CCD) chips, which are optically coupled to thallium-doped cesium iodide scintillator by means of a thin fiber optic plate. Scanning is accomplished by attaching the detector to a rigid arm that swings in an arc, with the axis of rotation collinear with the X-ray tube focal spot. The total scan time for the 30 cm image width is less than 6 s, with an effective exposure time of either 0.2 or 0.4 s. Two resolution modes are available: 0.054 mm or 0.027 mm square pixel size; in the latter mode both the image length and width are halved, as is the scan velocity, so that the scan time remains the same. To compensate for the low X-ray utilization efficiency of the slot geometry, a tungsten–rhenium target X-ray tube is employed. It is rated at 8 kW on the 0.3 mm focal spot; when used with a heat exchanger, it has been found to provide the patient throughput needed in a busy clinical practice.

Response of silicon multistrip detectors and a cesium iodide scintillator to a calcium ion beam of 0.5 GeV/u

We have constructed and operated charge preamplifiers for silicon strip detectors with a dynamic range extending from fractions of minimum ionising particle (MIP) up to 16 124 MIPs. These silicon detectors combined with time-of-flight counters and cesium iodide scintillator form a segment of the VENUS detector that has been exposed to a calcium beam of 0.5 GeV/u at the GSI accelerator. The aim of the instrument is the identification of all nuclides of the periodic table of the elements. Measurements of electronic noise, cross-talk among channels and energy deposit resolutions in various experimental conditions for silicon detectors are given. The measured light output of the CsI(Tl) crystal induced by calcium is compared with that extrapolated from lower-energy data of various nuclide species determined in other experiments. The charge resolution for calcium ions, determined by the dE dχ detectors and TOF counters of time resolution of 55 ± 7 ps, amounts to 0.42 charge units (rms). Improvements in ion discrimination with respect to the present detector configuration are considered.

Silicon multistrip detectors and caesium iodide scintillator for identification of heavy and ultra heavy nuclides in space experiments

An instrument made of silicon multistrip detectors, time-of-flight and caesium iodide scintillators for ion identification in cosmic ray experiments has been constructed and tested. The charge dynamic of the preamplifier reading the silicon multistrip detectors allows to identify all the nuclides of the periodic table. A redundant method for measuring the ion energy, autotrigger capability and low power consumption of the silicon detector readout are the major characteristic features of the apparatus. Performance results of the instrument, tested with a calcium beam of 0.5 GeV/u at the GSI accelerator, are presented.

Spectra of radioactivity induced in caesium iodide scintillator crystals by 155 MeV protons

Previous work has shown the importance of induced radioactivity as a source of background counts in X- and γ-ray astronomy experiments which use scintillation detectors. Comprehensive data on the decay spectra observed in Caesium Iodide crystals following irradiation by 155 MeV protons has been obtained by the Imperial College group and is presented here. The spectra cover the energy loss range from 20 keV to 3.4 MeV and were collected at times after irradiation ranging from 1 min until 200 d. A sufficient selection of spectra is given to enable calculations to be made of the time variations in radioactivity which would be observed in similar space-borne detectors subjected to irradiation by inner belt and cosmic ray protons. Examples of such calculations are given.

Spectromètrie de protons primaires et de protons d'origine solaire à Skogar-Islande ( L ∼- 5,7)

The proton spectrometer used comprises a telescope consisting of two scintillation-type counters and a Cerenkov counter, which latter allows protons of a higher energy than IGeV to be eliminated. The spectrum, which is measured from the loss of specific energy of the particles in a thin caesium iodide scintillator, is coded and transmitted to a 100-channel amplitude analyzer. The results presented relate to two releases of balloons from the South of Iceland (Summer, 1965). The spectra obtained bring out the contribution of protons of solar origin (19th August) and that of primary galactic protons (4th September).

Szintillations-spektrometer für α- und β-strahlung

A scintillation spectroscopy assembly for simultaneous spectroscopy of α- and β-ray emitting isotopes as separated in radio-chemical experiments is described. In a light-safe chamber the radiation hits in vacuo a cesium-iodide scintillator at nearly total 2 π-geometry. The scintillations are registered by a photomultiplier, which is situated outside the vacuum-system, but in optical contact with the CsI(Tl)-crystal. The amplified signals are analysed in the usual way.