Energy Resolution Performance Research Articles

Performance Investigations of Two Channel Readout Configurations on the Cross-Strip Cadmium Zinc Telluride Detector.

In a detector system where the number of channels exceeds the number of channels available on an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), there is a need to configure channels among multiple ASICs to achieve the lowest electronic noise and highest count rate. In this work, two board configurations were designed to experimentally assess which one provides the more favorable performance. In the half-half configuration, contiguous channels from one edge to the center of CZT detector are read by one ASIC, and the other half are read by the other ASIC. In the alternate configuration, the CZT channels are read by alternating ASICs. A lower electronic noise level, better FWHM energy resolution performance (5.35% ± 1.08% compared to 7.84% ± 0.98%), and higher count rate was found for the anode electrode strips with half-half configuration. Cross-talk between ASICs and deadtime play a role in the different performances, and the total count rate of the half-half configuration has a count rate 18.1% higher than that of the alternate configuration.

The 2024 LaBr[formula omitted](Ce) detector setup for the FAMU experiment

The FAMU experiment, led by INFN at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (UK), is designed to measure the Zemach radius of the proton in muonic hydrogen (μp) with uncertainty better than 1%. A set of LaBr3(Ce) scintillating crystals, complemented by a High-Purity Germanium (HPGe) detector, are used to detect the delayed muonic oxygen (μO) X-ray emission, which signals the muonic hydrogen spin flip excited with a tunable MIR laser. The detector setup is in continuous development. After two periods of measurement in 2023, the detector configuration is currently being upgraded for the 2024–2025 runs with new detectors read out by SiPMs to enhance signal-to-noise ratio and improve time performance. In particular, all ½” scintillators are being substituted with 1” ones, increasing the solid angle coverage and optimising energy resolution and timing performances.

A novel 4H–SiC thermal neutron detector based on a metal-oxide-semiconductor structure

Energy resolution and leakage current are two key parameters for semiconductor neutron detectors. Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (MOS) detectors introduce an additional oxide layer compared to Schottky Barrier Diodes (SBDs) detectors in order to reduce leakage current. However, this also leads to a degradation in energy resolution due to the introduction of an additional dead layer. Therefore, optimizing the thickness of the oxide layer is important for MOS detectors. In this study, a 4H–SiC-based MOS thermal neutron detector was designed with comprehensive consideration of the oxide layer. Subsequently, a prototype of the detector was fabricated and tested. The prototype of the MOS detector achieved an nA-level leakage current under a reverse bias of −200 V. Additionally, it demonstrated good energy resolution performance in a moderated D-T neutron source test. The MOS detector was able to clearly distinguish between the two reaction channels of 10B converter events, which is consistent with the theoretical branching ratio. This work highlights the potential application of 4H–SiC-based MOS detectors for thermal neutron detection.

The upgrade of the CMS electromagnetic calorimeter for HL-LHC

The High Luminosity upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) at CERN aims to achieve unprecedented levels of instantaneous and integrated luminosities, approximately 5 × 1034 cm-2 s-1 and 3000 fb-1, respectively. It is anticipated that each bunch-crossing will result in an average of 140 to 200 collisions (pileup). The lead tungstate crystals and avalanche photodiodes (APDs) in the barrel region of the electromagnetic calorimeter (ECAL) of the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) will remain effective. However the readout and trigger electronics will undergo complete replacement to keep the current level of performance. A dual gain trans-impedance amplifier and an application-specific integrated circuit will be installed, providing two 160 MS/s analog-to-digital converter channels, gain selection, and data compression. The increase in noise within the APDs, due to radiation-induced dark current, will be alleviated by reducing the operating temperature of the ECAL. Additionally, the trigger primitive formation will be shifted away from the detector and handled by powerful and flexible field-programmable gate array processors housed on the back-end electronics cards.In this document, the complete ECAL barrel readout chain design and the current state of research and development for each individual component regarding the upgrade will be described. The outcomes of recent test beam campaigns conducted at the CERN SPS, exploiting electron beams with energies of up to 250 GeV, will also be summarized. Notably, measurements pertaining to the energy resolution performance of the latest prototypes of HL-LHC ECAL readout electronics will be presented.

Characterizing Thermal Background Events for Athena X-IFU

The X-ray Integral Field Unit on <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">Athena</i> will be subject to a cosmic-ray induced thermal background on orbit, with energy depositions into the detector wafer leading to thermal bath fluctuations. Such fluctuations have the potential to degrade energy resolution performance of the transition-edge sensor based microcalorimeter. This problem was previously studied in simulations that modeled thermal bath fluctuations induced by cosmic-ray events and evaluated the resulting energy resolution degradation due to a simulated timeline of such events. Now taking an experimental approach, we present results using a collimated Am-241 alpha particle source to deposit a known energy to specific locations on the detector wafer. Thermal pulses induced by the alpha particle energy depositions are measured at various detector pixels for several different experimental configurations, including for energy deposited into the inter-pixel structure of the wafer, as well as the frame area outside the pixel array. Further, we also test both with and without a thick backside heatsinking metallization layer that is baselined for the instrument. In each case results are compared to expectations based on the thermal model developed for the previous study.

Calibration of Troitsk Nu-Mass Detector Readout Electronics by Signal Digital Filters

We present the results of tuning and calibration of the detector electronics in the signal digitization mode. The goal of the experiment is to search for a possible sterile neutrino signature in tritium beta-decay. The read-out electronics work in direct oscilloscope mode, which requires to optimize time frame the with the goal to minimize noise and energy resolution. We use a 7-pixel silicon drift detector (SDD) and a CMOS charge sensitive preamplifier with very low integration capacitor. Amplifier forms a slowly rising output shape and operates in pulse-reset mode. The 125 MHz ADC digitizes the signals. Using calibration data from Fe55 and Am241 gamma sources we check triangular and trapezoid digital filters to obtain the best noise and energy resolution performance. We are also examining the option to differentiate the output signal.

Development of an associated particle imaging system with pixel SiC detectors

The elemental analysis method, with fast neutron associated particle imaging, holds immense potential in identifying concealed explosives, nuclear materials, and container security inspection, owing to its superior sensitivity and three-dimensional analysis capability compared to traditional neutron activation analysis technology. However, the temperature and irradiation fragility of the traditional associated particle detector curtails its usage in harsh environments such as space missions. The adoption of wide-bandgap semiconductor detectors, such as SiC, is expected to address this constraint. In this work, an associated particle imaging system based on a 4 × 4 SiC pixel detector was designed, built, and tested. The SiC detector exhibited consistent energy resolution and time performance between 25–150 °C. The built API system achieved an intrinsic time resolution of 1.8 ns and spatial resolution of at least 10 cm in the neutron flight direction. By utilizing the coincidence time spectrum and pixel SiC detector, the built system can provide the element content distribution in three-dimensional space. The results demonstrate the feasibility of employing SiC detectors in associated particle imaging systems and pave the way for developing a new type of sealed neutron tube with a prolonged lifetime and high environmental adaptability.

Development of a compact and cost-effective PET detector module for a small-animal PET system with FESA ASIC

Due to the high cost and large channel number in positron emission tomography (PET) systems, the integration level and cost performance must be considered in the construction of commercial PET systems. In this paper, a highly integrated readout electronic system was designed and implemented based on a self-developed FESA (Front End for SiPM Arrays) readout ASIC; a compact cost-effective detector module with four lined up detector heads was built, and its performance was evaluated. Each detector head consisted of a 24× 24 LYSO crystal array (each crystal element had dimensions of 0.99 × 0.99 × 15 mm3), one end coupling to an 8 × 8 silicon photomultiplier array (SiPM array with dimensions of 3.2 × 3.2 mm2 each), and the other end covered with a 1 mm thick light guide layer. Since the front-end FESA readout chip employed a row-column summing circuit to reduce the readout channels from 64 to 16, we tried a new depth encoding method based on a single-end readout with the structure. The test results showed that the average coincidence time resolution (CTR), energy resolution, and depth of interaction (DOI) resolution of the detector are 413 ps, 15.7%, and 5.2 mm, respectively, while the crystal array in the detector head with 9-to-1 coupling can be clearly separated in the flood image. Compared with the detector head without the depth encoding ability, the clearness of the flood image was slightly decreased, but the energy resolution and time performance remained the same. We also implemented a central control board that connected all detector modules via fiber connections. The data from the detector modules could be collected over the connections, and the system central clock could be precisely distributed; therefore, the compactness of the electronics system was further enhanced.

Design and characterization of third-order Sallen–Key digital filter in nuclear signal processing

The Gaussian filter shaping circuit is widely used in the nuclear pulse signal processing due to its good performance in amplitude extraction and pulse counting. A third-order Sallen–Key (3rd S–K) filter shaping circuit is designed based on a RC integrator and a second-order Sallen–Key (2nd S–K) circuit. According to the digital 3rd S–K, the transfer functions is derived in the Laplacian domain, and the numerical recurrence model is analyzed and researched, the purpose is to obtain its transfer function and amplitude–frequency response curve in the z-domain. For the simulation and actual sampling of the nuclear signal, digital shaping processing is performed at different parameters, three parameters (d, SNR, δ) are defined to compare and analyze the amplitude extraction, noise suppression and symmetry of the digital shaping method, which shows that as the shaping parameters increases, the digital shaping output noise suppression performance is better, the SNR increased from 49.25 to 64.21, the waveform is more symmetrical, the δ reduced from 34.05 to 0.22. At the same parameters, it is compared and analyzed with CR-RC3 and 2nd S–K shaping methods, according to the digital Gaussian shaping results, the 3rd S–K digital shaping method has better pulse amplitude extraction(d = 36.06%), noise suppression performance (SNR = 64.21) and waveform symmetry (δ = 0.22). Under different shaping methods, the energy resolution and pulse counting rate of the Fe characteristic X-ray energy spectrum are compared based on a Si-PIN detector. The results show that the 3rd S–K digital shaping method has better energy resolution performance and comprehensive performance indicators, which can be further applied for digital shaping of nuclear pulse signals.

Optimization study of the electrode design of a 5 mm thick orthogonal-strip CdZnTe detector system

The geometry of electrodes is one of the most important factors in determining the performance of orthogonal-strip detectors. The aim of this work is to study the performance of a 5 mm thick cross-strip CdZnTe detector with different electrode widths. Our study consists of two main parts, simulations and experiments. We utilized four different anode sizes ranging from 0.1 mm to 0.6 mm. The anodes were interspersed with steering electrodes with varying sizes from 0.3 mm to 0.85 mm. The maximum gap size between the anodes and steering electrode strips was set to 0.3 mm, while the minimum gap size was 0.125 mm. The performance of the detector was investigated in terms of the steering electrode bias voltage, the energy resolution, and the charge sharing effect. For simulations, we developed a C++ based simulation program for charge transport inside the CdZnTe detector and charge collection at the electrodes. For photon interactions we used GEANT4 toolkit and for electric field and weighting potential simulations we used COMSOL software. The results demonstrated that -50 V is the optimal steering electrode bias for our detector when -500 V was applied to the cathodes and that the energy resolution performance drops with increasing steering electrode width. Also, the charge sharing effect becomes more dominant for larger steering electrode sizes. The experimental result are further compared with the simulations. The results are in a good agreement and the comparison validates our simulation model. Although, our simulation framework has need of better estimation for the intrinsic noise of CdZnTe. These results suggest that an optimization study between electrode widths and steering electrode bias is required to obtain the best performance in orthogonal-strip CdZnTe detectors.

Characterization and performance evaluation of the XSPA-500k detector using synchrotron radiation.

Hybrid photon counting (HPC) detectors are widely used at both synchrotron facilities and in-house laboratories. The features of HPC detectors, such as no readout noise, high dynamic range, high frame rate, excellent point spread function, no blurring etc. along with fast data acquisition, provide a high-performance detector with a low detection limit and high sensitivity. Several HPC detector systems have been developed around the world. A number of them are commercially available and used in academia and industry. One of theimportant features of an HPC detector is a fast readout speed. Most HPC detectors can easily achieve over 1000 frames s-1, one or two orders of magnitude faster than conventional CCD detectors. Nevertheless, advanced scientific challenges require ever faster detectors in order to study dynamical phenomena in matter. The XSPA-500k detector can achieve 56 kframes s-1 continuously, without dead-time between frames. Using `burst mode', a special mode of the UFXC32k ASIC, the frame rate reaches 1 000 000 frames s-1. XSPA-500k was fully evaluated at the Metrology beamline at Synchrotron SOLEIL (France) and its readout speed was confirmed by tracking the synchrotron bunch time structure. The uniformity of response, modulation transfer function, linearity, energy resolution and other performance metrics were also verified either with fluorescence X-rays illuminating the full area of the detector or with the direct beam.

Energy and electron drift time measurements in a pixel CCI TlBr detector with 1.3 MeV prompt-gammas

Assessing the position of the Bragg peak (BP) in hadron radiotherapy utilizing prompt-gamma imaging (PGI) presents many challenges in terms of detector physics. Gamma detectors with the capability of extracting the best energy, timing, and spatial information from each gamma interaction, as well as with high detection efficiency and count rate performance, are needed for this application. In this work we present the characterization of a pixel Čerenkov charge induction (CCI) thallium bromide (TlBr) detector in terms of energy and and electron drift time for its potential use in PGI. The CCI TlBr detector had dimensions of 4 × 4 × 5 mm3 and one of its electrodes was segmented in pixels with 1.7 mm pitch. A silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) was optically coupled to one of the faces of the TlBr slab to read out the Čerenkov light promptly emitted after the interaction of a gamma ray. The detector was operated stand-alone and the 1.275 prompt gammas from a 22Na radioactive source were used for the study. The electron drift time was obtained by combining the Čerenkov and charge induction signals and then used as a measure of the depth of interaction. The electron mobility in TlBr was estimated as ∼27 cm2 V−1 s−1. Energy resolutions between 3.4% and 4.0% at 1.275 MeV were obtained after depth-correction. These values improved to 3.0%–3.3% when events with drift times of 3–6 μs were selected. These results show the potential of pixel CCI TlBr detectors to resolve gamma interactions in the detector with mm-like accuracy in 3D and with excellent energy resolution. Previous studies with CCI TlBr devices have shown a timing resolution of <400 ps full width at half maximum when detecting 511 keV gamma rays, therefore, the timing accuracy is expected to improve with the increased energy of the gamma rays in PGI. While other important detector characteristics such as count rate capability remain to be studied, results from this work combined with other preliminary data show pixel CCI detectors can simultaneously provide excellent energy, timing, and spatial resolution performance and are a very promising option for PGI in hadron therapy.

In-silico optimisation of tileable philips digital SiPM based thin monolithic scintillator detectors for SPECT applications

Over the last decade one of the most significant technological advances made in the field of radiation detectors for nuclear medicine was the development of Silicon Photomultipler (SiPM) sensors. At present only a small number of SiPM based radiation detectors for Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) applications have been explored, and even fewer experimental prototypes developed. An in-silico investigation into the optimal design of a Philips DPC3200 SiPM photosensor-based thin monolithic scintillator detector for SPECT applications was undertaken using the Monte Carlo radiation transport modelling toolkit Geant4 version 10.5. The performance of the 20 different SPECT radiation detector configurations, 4 scintillator materials (NaI(Tl), GAGG(Ce), CsI(Tl) and LaBr3(Ce)) and 5 thicknesses (1–5 mm), were determined through the use of seven figures of merit. It was found that a crystal thickness range of 4–5 mm was required for all four materials to ensure acceptable energy resolution, sensitivity and spatial resolution performance with the Philips DPC3200 SiPM. Any thinner than this and the performance of all four materials was found to degrade rapidly due to a high probability of material specific fluorescence x-ray escape after incident gamma/x-ray photoelectric absorption. When factoring in each material's magnetic resonance imaging compatibility, hygroscopy, and cost, it was found that CsI(Tl) represents the most promising material to construct tileable Philips digital SiPM based thin monolithic scintillator detectors for SPECT applications.

Real-time signal processing in field programmable gate array based digital gamma-ray spectrometer.

Field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) are attractive for a digital spectrometer due to its advantages of digital signal processing. However, how to improve the versatility of the spectrometer and increase the operating frequency of the digital shaper has gradually become a limitation that needs to be resolved in the FPGA-based spectrometer. A solution to improve the universality of the FPGA-based digital spectroscopy system is presented in this work, and the implementation of the real-time digital signal processing unit is improved to obtain a higher operating frequency, and then the optimal parameters of the digital trapezoidal shaper and the processing unit are also discussed through a series of experiments; finally, a FPGA-based digital spectrometer is developed. With the HPGe detector, the spectrometer achieves excellent energy resolution performance of 0.35% at 662 keV, 0.25% at 1173.2 keV, and 0.23% at 1332.5 keV.

Optimization of energy resolution and Pulse Shape Discrimination for a CLYC detector with integrated digitizers

Sufficient current pulse information of nuclear radiation detectors can be retained by direct waveform digitization owing to the improvement of digitizer's performance. In many circumstances, reasonable cost and power consumption are on demand while the energy resolution and PSD performance should be ensured simultaneously for detectors. This paper will quantitatively analyse the influence of vertical resolution and sampling rate of digitizers on the energy resolution and PSD performance. The energy resolution and PSD performance can be generally optimized by improving the sampling rate and ENOB (effective number of bits) of digitizers. Several integrated digitizers, with sampling rates varying from 100 MSPS to 500 MSPS and vertical resolution ranging from 12-Bit to 16-Bit, were designed and integrated with a CLYC detector for verifications. Experimental results show good accordance with theoretical calculations. The conclusion can give guidance to designs of digitizes for similar applications in need of optimizing the energy resolution and PSD performance, and help to choose proper digitizers for different requirements.

On the use of CdSe scintillating nanoplatelets as time taggers for high-energy gamma detection

The technological challenge imposed by the time resolution essential to achieve real-time molecular imaging calls for a new generation of ultrafast detectors. In this contribution, we demonstrate that CdSe-based semiconductor nanoplatelets can be combined with standard scintillator technology to achieve 80 ps coincidence time resolution on a hybrid functional pixel. This result contrasts with the fact that the overall detector light output is considerably affected by the loss of index-light-guiding. Here, we exploit the principle of 511 keV energy sharing between a high-Z, high stopping power bulk scintillator, and a nano-scintillator with sub-1 ns radiative recombination times, aiming at a breakthrough in the combined energy and time resolution performance. This proof-of-concept test opens the way to the design and study of larger size sensors using thin nanocomposite layers able to perform as efficient time taggers in a sampling detector geometry of new generation.

Characterization of a Cs2LiYCl6: Ce3+ scintillator coupled with two silicon photomultiplier arrays of different sizes

Neutrons produced by cosmic rays comprise the main factor in radiation hazards for astronauts and spacecraft during space exploration. A silicon-photomultiplier- (SiPM-) array-coupled Cs2LiYCl6: Ce3+ (CLYC) detector was proposed to measure neutrons onboard spacecraft. Since both light-collection efficiency and thermal noise rate are proportional to a SiPM’s size, it is necessary to compare CLYC’s characterization when coupled with SiPM arrays of different sizes. In this paper, a 4×4 array and an 8×8 array, both of which are composed of 3×3-mm2 SiPM elements, were coupled to a Φ38 mm×38 mm cylindrical CLYC detector. The energy resolution, pulse-shape-discrimination (PSD) performance, and temperature dependence were tested with two gamma-ray sources and a neutron source. Results indicate that both energy resolution and PSD performance mainly benefit from the higher light-collection efficiency of the large array. The peak centroids of 137Cs varied by ∼20% in the testing temperature region from -35 °C to +55 °C.

Study on Thallium Bromide Radioactive Detector

Thallium bromide (TlBr) is a compound semiconductor material, which can be used for X-ray and gamma-ray detectors and can be used at room temperature. It has excellent physical properties, high atomic number and density, wide bandgap (B = 2.68 eV), and low ionization energy. Compared with other X-ray and gamma-ray detection materials, TlBr devices have high detection efficiency and excellent energy resolution performance. So TlBr is suitable for housing in small tubes or shells, and it can be widely used in nuclear material measurement, safeguards verification, national security, space high-energy physics research, and other fields. Based on the fabrication of TlBr prototype detector, this paper focuses on the device fabrication and signal acquisition technology. Gamma-ray spectrum measurements and performance tests are carried out with AM-241 radioactive source. The results show that the special photoelectric peak of 59.5 keV is clearly visible, and the optimal resolution is 4.15 keV (7%).

Application of a SrI2(Eu) scintillation detector to in situ gamma-ray spectrometry in the environment

Using scintillation detectors to spectrometrically determine dose rate is useful in response to a nuclear accident, because the nuclide contribution in the measured dose rate can be determined. However, to select an appropriate scintillator for in situ gamma-ray spectrometry in the environment, energy resolution and counting efficiency should be evaluated. A SrI2(Eu) crystal is one of the promising scintillators, with good energy resolution and light output performance. But its long scintillation decay time of about 1 μs needs to be well matched with the signal processing unit of the gamma-ray spectrometer to avoid degrading its good performance. In this study a performance test was first conducted to determine the optimized pulse shaping time in the gamma-ray detection process. In addition, a Monte Carlo simulation of the SrI2(Eu) detector was performed to establish the algorithm for the spectrometric determination of dose rate. Finally, in situ gamma-ray spectrometry was performed with the SrI2(Eu) detector to determine the ambient dose rate, as well as the dose rate of nuclides in the environment. The results were successfully compared with those of HPIC (high pressure ion chamber), portable HPGe (high purity Ge), and NaI(Tl) detectors at the same site.

Results from the first cryogenic NaI detector for the COSINUS project

Recently there is a flourishing and notable interest in the crystalline scintillator material sodium iodide (NaI) as target for direct dark matter searches. This is mainly driven by the long-reigning contradicting situation in the dark matter sector: the positive evidence for the detection of a dark matter modulation signal claimed by the DAMA/LIBRA collaboration is (under so-called standard assumptions) inconsistent with the null-results reported by most of the other direct dark matter experiments. We present the results of a first prototype detector using a new experimental approach in comparison to conventional single-channel NaI scintillation light detectors: a NaI crystal operated as a scintillating calorimeter at milli-Kelvin temperatures simultaneously providing a phonon (heat) plus scintillation light signal and particle discrimination on an event-by-event basis. We evaluate energy resolution, energy threshold and further performance parameters of this prototype detector developed within the COSINUS R&D project.