Strong Radiation Environment Research Articles

A Hermetic Package Technique for Multi-Functional Fiber Sensors through Pressure Boundary of Energy Systems Based on Glass Sealants

This paper presents a hermitic fiber sensor packaging technique that enables fiber sensors to be embedded in energy systems for performing multi-parameter measurements in high-temperature and strong radiation environments. A high-temperature, stable Intrinsic Fabry–Perot interferometer (IFPI) array, inscribed by a femtosecond laser direct writing scheme, is used to measure both temperature and pressure induced strain changes. To address the large disparity in thermo-expansion coefficients (TECs) between silica fibers and metal parts, glass sealants with TEC between silica optical fibers and metals were used to hermetically seal optical fiber sensors inside stainless steel metal tubes. The hermetically sealed package is validated for helium leakages between 1 MPa and 10 MPa using a helium leak detector. An IFPI sensor embedded in glass sealant was used to measure pressure. The paper demonstrates an effective technique to deploy fiber sensors to perform multi-parameter measurements in a wide range of energy systems that utilize high temperatures and strong radiation environments to achieve efficient energy production.

Research on the degradation of resolution in cameras based on CMOS image sensor under γ- and X-rays irradiation

Remote control engineering in industry usually requires cameras to assist target identification and detection, but the cameras working in nuclear environments face the threat of radiation-induced degradation. Both γ- and X-rays in nuclear environments will cause ionizing radiation damage, but the difference in degradation of camera’s performance induced by ionizing radiation damage with equivalent total ionizing dose (TID) of these two rays is unclear, which is crucial for the evaluation of camera performance in a nuclear radiation environment. In order to figure out the degradation of CMOS cameras by ionization radiation damage under different rays, this study conducted irradiation experiments on CMOS image sensors under X-ray with 10 keV and 60Co-γ ray with 1.25 MeV, respectively, and then tested and calculated the resolution of camera based on this CMOS image sensor. After comparing and analyzing the results, it was found that the dark current and full well capacity of the CIS, as well as the resolution of the camera, were more severely degraded after X-ray irradiation. Further analysis found that the interface dose enhancement effect of X-ray, as well as the generation of high-density oxide trapped charges in the gate oxide, aggravated the degradation of full well capacity on the CIS after X-ray irradiation, resulting in more severe degradation in the resolution of the CMOS camera. This study provides theoretical basis for the safety and reliability evaluation of cameras in strong nuclear radiation environments.

Phase formation mechanism of Cr2AlC MAX phase coating: In-situ TEM characterization and atomic-scale calculations

Cr2AlC, a representative MAX phase, gains increasing attention for the excellent oxidation tolerance and corrosion resistance used in harsh high temperature and strong radiation environments. However, the lack of the phase formation mechanism has become the key bottleneck to the practical applications for Cr2AlC synthesis with high purity at low temperatures. In this work, we fabricated the amorphous Cr–Al–C coating by a hybrid magnetron sputtering/cathodic arc deposition technique, in which the in-situ heating transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was conducted in a temperature range of 25–650 °C to address the real-time phase transformation for Cr2AlC coating. The results demonstrated that increasing the temperature from 25 to 370 °C led to the structural transformation from amorphous Cr–Al–C to the crystalline Cr2Al interphases. However, the high-purity Cr2AlC MAX phase was distinctly formed at 500 °C, accompanied by the diminished amorphous feature. With the further increase of temperature to 650 °C, the decomposition of Cr2AlC to Cr7C3 impurities was observed. Similar phase evolution was also evidenced by the Ab-initio molecular dynamics calculations, where the bond energy of Cr–Cr, Cr–Al, and Cr–C played the key role in the formed crystalline stability during the heating process. The observations not only provide fundamental insight into the phase formation mechanism for high-purity Cr2AlC coatings but also offer a promising strategy to manipulate the advanced MAX phase materials with high tolerance to high-temperature oxidation and heavy ion radiations.

Population structure and adaptability analysis of Schizothorax o’connori based on whole-genome resequencing

BackgroundSchizothorax o’connori is an endemic fish distributed in the upper and lower reaches of the Yarlung Zangbo River in China. It has experienced a fourth round of whole gene replication events and is a good model for exploring the genetic differentiation and environmental adaptability of fish in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The uplift of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has led to changes in the river system, thereby affecting gene exchange and population differentiation between fish populations. With the release of fish whole genome data, whole genome resequencing has been widely used in genetic evolutionary analysis and screening of selected genes in fish, which can better elucidate the genetic basis and molecular environmental adaptation mechanisms of fish. Therefore, our purpose of this study was to understand the population structure and adaptive characteristics of S. o’connori using the whole-genome resequencing method.ResultsThe results showed that 23,602,746 SNPs were identified from seven populations, mostly distributed on chromosomes 2 and 23. There was no significant genetic differentiation between the populations, and the genetic diversity was relatively low. However, the Zangga population could be separated from the Bomi, Linzhi, and Milin populations in the cluster analysis. Based on historical dynamics analysis of the population, the size of the ancestral population of S. o’connori was affected by the late accelerated uplift of the Qinghai Tibet Plateau and the Fourth Glacial Age. The selected sites were mostly enriched in pathways related to DNA repair and energy metabolism.ConclusionOverall, the whole-genome resequencing analysis provides valuable insights into the population structure and adaptive characteristics of S. o’connori. There was no obvious genetic differentiation at the genome level between the S. o’connori populations upstream and downstream of the Yarlung Zangbo River. The current distribution pattern and genetic diversity are influenced by the late accelerated uplift of the Qinghai Tibet Plateau and the Fourth Ice Age. The selected sites of S. o’connori are enriched in the energy metabolism and DNA repair pathways to adapt to the low temperature and strong ultraviolet radiation environment at high altitude.

A 14T radiation hardened SRAM for space applications with high reliability

SummaryStatic Random Access Memory (SRAM) is vital in aerospace applications, but it may experience soft errors in strong radiation environments. This paper proposes a reconfigurable radiation SRAM with two operating modes catering to different environmental requirements: (1) traditional triple modular redundancy mode used when the radiation environment is strong and (2) SRAM cell expansion mode used when the radiation is not very strong. For example, when the memory capacity of a single module is 8 k, the memory capacity is 8 k in traditional triple modular redundancy mode, but it can be tripled to 24 K in extended mode. As can be obviously seen, this design can adjust the size according to the needs. In SRAM cell expansion mode, the proposed 14T SRAM cell enables the memory to maintain radiation resistance. Compared with DICE, RHBD‐12T, and WHIT, the read speed is improved by 3.8%, 5.7%, and 11.5% respectively, but compared with WE‐QUATRO, the read speed is reduced by 1.9%. The hold static noise margin is 1.378 times than DICE, 1.201 times than WE‐QUATRO, 1.045 times than RHBD‐12T, and 1.14 times than WHIT, respectively. The proposed 14T cell in this paper exhibits the highest critical charge value compared with the other cells. Combined with the expansion mode of the reconfiguration design, it shows great stability.

Overall Structural Design of a Radar with 2-D Arrayed Independent Conjugate Sealed Air Ducts Under Strong Electromagnetic Radiation

An overall radar structure with 2-D arrayed independent conjugate sealed air ducts is discussed. It can operate well in a strong electromagnetic radiation environment. Completely sealed, the case consists of two installation cavities. The front cavity achieves wave transmission and reception and lessens electromagnetic radiation from large power microwave weapons, making it possible for the radar’s transmitting and receiving waves to pass with low attenuation. The horizontal air duct in the front cavity dissipates heat of the antennae, ensuring the conformity of the direction figure formed by the transmitting chips. The two-sided surface-mount technology applied in the vertical air duct in the back cavity lowers the utilization space and thickness of the radar while raising the dissipation efficiency.

Morphology and chemical composition of Si-ion-irradiated zirconolite glass-ceramic

Evaluation of the radiation resistance of zirconolite glass-ceramic is significant to it serves as the first barrier for high-level waste (HLW). The evolutions in the morphology and chemical composition of a Ce-bearing zirconolite glass-ceramic induced by 15 MeV Si-ion-irradiation were studied in this paper. The swelling of the glass matrix, amorphization, and shape change of the zirconolite phase were identified after irradiation. The chemical compositions of both zirconolite and glass matrix were changed and more Ce was incorporated into the glass. These modifications induced by ion irradiation were discussed in detail combined with thermal-spike model calculations, suggesting that the electronic energy deposition also can play a dominant role in the evolutions of both the morphology and the chemical composition of the ion irradiated zirconolite glass-ceramic. These results are extremely important for understanding the microstructural evolutions of zirconolite glass-ceramic in a strong radiation environment.

Pseudotargeted metabolomics revealed the adaptive mechanism of Draba oreades Schrenk at high altitude.

Strong ultraviolet radiation and low temperature environment on Gangshika Mountain, located in the eastern part of the Qilian Mountains in Qinghai Province, can force plants to produce some special secondary metabolites for resisting severe environmental stress. However, the adaptive mechanism of Draba oreades Schrenk at high altitude are still unclear. In the current study, Draba oreades Schrenk from the Gangshika Mountain at altitudes of 3800 m, 4000 m and 4200 m were collected for comprehensive metabolic evaluation using pseudotargeted metabolomics method. Through KEGG pathway enrichment analysis, we found that phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, phenylalanine, tyrosine and tryptophan biosynthesis and phenylalanine metabolism related to the biosynthesis of flavonoids were up-regulated in the high-altitude group, which may enhance the environmental adaptability to strong ultraviolet intensity and low temperature stress in high altitude areas. By TopFc20 distribution diagram, the content of flavonoids gradually increased with the elevation of altitude, mainly including apigenin, luteolin, quercetin, hesperidin, kaempferol and their derivatives. Based on the random forest model, 10 important metabolites were identified as potential biomarkers. L-phenylalanine, L-histidine, naringenin-7-O-Rutinoside-4'-O-glucoside and apigenin related to the flavonoids biosynthesis and plant disease resistance were increased with the elevation of altitude. This study provided important insights for the adaptive mechanism of Draba oreades Schrenk at high altitude by pseudotargeted metabolomics.

Molecular Cloning and Expression Analysis of the Cryptochrome Gene CiPlant-CRY1 in Antarctic Ice Alga Chlamydomonas sp. ICE-L.

Cryptochrome (CRY) is a kind of flavin-binding protein that can sense blue light and near-ultraviolet light, and participates in the light response of organisms and the regulation of the circadian clock. The complete open reading frame (ORF) of CiPlant-CRY1 (GenBank ID OM389130.1), encoding one kind of CRY, was cloned from the Antarctic ice alga Chlamydomonas sp. ICE-L. The quantitative real-time PCR study showed that the expression level of the CiPlant-CRY1 gene was the highest at 5 °C and salinity of 32‰. CiPlant-CRY1 was positively regulated by blue or yellow light, suggesting that it is involved in the establishment of photomorphology. The CiPlant-CRY1 gene can respond to polar day and polar night, indicating its expression is regulated by circadian rhythm. The expression level of CiPlant-CRY1 was most affected by UVB irradiation, which may be related to the adaptation of ice algae to a strong ultraviolet radiation environment. Moreover, the recombinant protein of CiPlant-CRY1 was expressed by prokaryotic expression. This study may be important for exploring the light-induced rhythm regulation of Antarctic ice algae in the polar marine environment.

A Split-Type FMICW-Based Guided Wave Radar With Multisegmental Probe for Liquid Level Measurement

In this paper, a specially designed guided wave radar device for measuring the liquid level in the nuclear industry is proposed. A split-type design is introduced to adapt to a strong radiation environment. An L-band frequency modulated interrupted continuous wave (FMICW) radar is designed to ensure the signal-to-noise ratio of echo signal after long-distance signal transmission, which provides the isolation between transmitter and receiver of more than 60 dB using the gating technology. To overcome the shortcomings of limited installation and maintenance space, a novel coaxial waveguide probe with a multi-segmental structure is proposed and simulated. An adaptive signal processing algorithm is developed to remove false echoes and eliminate measurement fluctuations. A prototype of the proposed measurement system is fabricated and evaluated. Static and dynamic liquid level experiments are performed in an outdoor environment to assess performance and verify the effectiveness of the proposed radar. The results show that the standard deviation measurement error of the proposed radar is within 0.4 cm. The proposed system is expected to have a high potential for applications in liquid level measurement under complex conditions.

Motion planning of radioactive source grasping robot based on memory reasoning

Aiming at the problem that machine vision is difficult to be applied to the radioactive source grasping due to the semi-closed and strong radiation environment of the lead can, we propose a memory reasoning based reinforcement learning grasping method. The kinematics model of intelligent robot grasping system is constructed based on machine vision. The interaction between the intelligent robot and internal environment of lead cans is realized by force feedback. Through the memory reasoning decision of historical grasping data, the autonomous grasping of radioactive sources is realized. Using the Gazebo simulator in robot operating system (ROS), the Monte Carlo sampling method and reinforcement learning grasping method based on memory reasoning are simulated, respectively. The results show that the reinforcement learning grasping method based on memory reasoning achieves the average grasping efficiency of 84.67% higher than that of Monte Carlo sampling method and thus demonstrate that the reinforcement learning grasping method can effectively solve the problem of autonomous grasping of radioactive sources in lead cans.

Strong Radiation Field Online Detection and Monitoring System with Camera.

Herein, we report the γ-ray ionizing radiation response of a commercial monolithic active-pixel sensor (MAPS) camera under strong-dose-rate irradiation with an online detection and monitoring system for strong radiation conditions. We present the first results of the distribution of three types of MAPS camera and establish a linear relationship between the average response signal and radiation dose rate in the strong-dose-rate range. There is an obvious response signal in the video frames when the camera module parameters are set to automatic, but the linear response is very poor. However, the fixed image parameters are not good at adapting to the changes of the environment and affect the quality of the video frames. A dual module online radiation detection and monitoring probe was made to carry out effective video monitoring and radiation detection at the same time. The measurement results show that the dose rate detection error is less than 5% with a dose rate in the range of 60 to 425 Gy/h, and the visible light image does not have obvious distortion, deformation, or color shift due to the interference of the radiation response event and radiation damage. Hence, the system test results show that it can be used for online detection and monitoring in a strong radiation environment.

Design method research of a radiation-resistant zoom lens

In a strong nuclear radiation environment, the life of a traditional zoom lens is extremely short. To improve the life of the zoom lens, a novel method to design the zoom optical system is proposed, in which the front fixed group is all made of Silica lens with stronger irradiation performance. Firstly, the radiation-resistant performance of the glass lens is tested, and the transmittance of the optical system is analyzed. Then, a specific zoom optical system was proposed for the problem of difficult chromatic aberration correction in the front fixed group, and a calculation method of the initial structure parameters is analyzed theoretically. Finally, a 6× radiation-resistant zoom optical system is designed by using only two specific radiation-resistant glass materials. The imaging experiment demonstrates the better imaging performance of the radiation-resistant zoom system, which verifies the feasibility of the design method proposed in this paper.

The JCMT BISTRO Survey: An 850/450 μm Polarization Study of NGC 2071IR in Orion B

Abstract We present the results of simultaneous 450 μm and 850 μm polarization observations toward the massive star-forming region NGC 2071IR, a target of the BISTRO (B-fields in STar-forming Region Observations) Survey, using the POL-2 polarimeter and SCUBA-2 camera mounted on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. We find a pinched magnetic field morphology in the central dense core region, which could be due to a rotating toroidal disklike structure and a bipolar outflow originating from the central young stellar object IRS 3. Using the modified Davis–Chandrasekhar–Fermi method, we obtain a plane-of-sky magnetic field strength of 563 ± 421 μG in the central ∼0.12 pc region from 850 μm polarization data. The corresponding magnetic energy density of 2.04 × 10−8 erg cm−3 is comparable to the turbulent and gravitational energy densities in the region. We find that the magnetic field direction is very well aligned with the whole of the IRS 3 bipolar outflow structure. We find that the median value of polarization fractions is 3.0% at 450 μm in the central 3′ region, which is larger than the median value of 1.2% at 850 μm. The trend could be due to the better alignment of warmer dust in the strong radiation environment. We also find that polarization fractions decrease with intensity at both wavelengths, with slopes, determined by fitting a Rician noise model of 0.59 ± 0.03 at 450 μm and 0.36 ± 0.04 at 850 μm, respectively. We think that the shallow slope at 850 μm is due to grain alignment at the center being assisted by strong radiation from the central young stellar objects.

Effects of electronic energy deposition on pre-existing defects in 6H–SiC

Silicon carbide is widely used in radiation environments due to its excellent properties. However, when exposed to the strong radiation environment constantly, plenty of defects are generated, thus causing the material performance downgrades or failures. In this paper, the two-temperature model (2T-MD) is used to explore the defect recovery process by applying the electronic energy loss (Se) on the pre-damaged system. The effects of defect concentration and the applied electronic energy loss on the defect recovery process are investigated, respectively. The results demonstrate that almost no defect recovery takes place until the defect density in the damage region or the local defect density is large enough, and the probability of defect recovery increases with the defect concentration. Additionally, the results indicate that the defect recovery induced by swift heavy ions is mainly connected with the homogeneous recombination of the carbon defects, while the probability of heterogeneous recombination is mainly dependent on the silicon defects.

Effects of alpha particle and gamma irradiation on the 1,1,4,4-tetraphenyl-1,3-butadiene wavelength shifter

1,1,4,4-tetraphenyl-1,3-butadiene (TPB) is an organic wavelength-shifting (WLS) material, which can down-convert wavelength from extreme ultraviolet (EUV) region to blue-visible region. When it is used in noble element detectors, TPB will be applied in strong radiation fields, so the radiation-resistance behavior of TPB is of crucial importance. The radiation effects of α and γ irradiation on TPB were studied by using 241Am α source and 60Co γ source. The results show that the peak intensity of fluorescence decreases linearly for α irradiation, while demonstrate an obvious turning point for γ irradiation when the accumulated dose is over 100 kGy. Experimental results confirmed that TPB is a promising WLS material in strong radiation environment.

Molecular dynamics simulation of displacement damage in 6H-SiC

ABSTRACTAs a new generation of low-loss components, 6H-SiC is widely used in optoelectronic devices, electronic devices and other fields, especially in high temperature and strong radiation environment. Radiation will lead to a great large of defects generated in the material, then forming permanent displacement damage which will result in performance down or failure. In this paper, the molecular dynamics method was used to study the spatial distribution of defects and the effect of temperature and PKA energy on the various properties of the point defects. The main contributions were the evolution of defects in 6H-SiC crystal, the influence of PKA energy and temperature on the defect distribution and the number of point defect. In this paper, the spatial distribution of point defects in 6H-SiC crystal after PKA incidence was obtained, the recombination rate under four kinds of energy PKA was calculated, and the effect of temperature and incident PKA energy on the number of defects, the rate of the vacancy cluster and the rate of vacancy defects at steady state were investigated. The results show that the number of defects at steady-state increases linearly with the increase of incident PKA energy, the effect of temperature and energy on defects producing and the rate of clusters are insignificant.

A Real-Time Ultraviolet Radiation Imaging System Using an Organic Photoconductive Image Sensor.

We have developed a real time ultraviolet (UV) imaging system that can visualize both invisible UV light and a visible (VIS) background scene in an outdoor environment. As a UV/VIS image sensor, an organic photoconductive film (OPF) imager is employed. The OPF has an intrinsically higher sensitivity in the UV wavelength region than those of conventional consumer Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) image sensors (CIS) or Charge Coupled Devices (CCD). As particular examples, imaging of hydrogen flame and of corona discharge is demonstrated. UV images overlapped on background scenes are simply made by on-board background subtraction. The system is capable of imaging weaker UV signals by four orders of magnitude than that of VIS background. It is applicable not only to future hydrogen supply stations but also to other UV/VIS monitor systems requiring UV sensitivity under strong visible radiation environment such as power supply substations.

Instrumentation for Testing Whether the Icy Moons of the Gas and Ice Giants Are Inhabited.

Evidence of life beyond Earth may be closer than we think, given that the forthcoming missions to the jovian system will be equipped with instruments capable of probing Europa's icy surface for possible biosignatures, including chemical biomarkers, despite the strong radiation environment. Geochemical biomarkers may also exist beyond Europa on icy moons of the gas giants. Sulfur is proposed as a reliable geochemical biomarker for approved and forthcoming missions to the outer solar system. Key Words: JUICE mission-Clipper mission-Geochemical biomarkers-Europa-Moons of the ice giants-Geochemistry-Mass spectrometry. Astrobiology 17, 958-961.

K-long and muon system for the Belle II experiment

We have studied a system based on scintillator counters with WLS fiber light collection and SiPM readout for the Belle II experiment. We have identified a few simple improvements in the strip production technology which allow significant increases in the light collection efficiency, thus increasing the efficiency and robustness of the entire detector. The new system should work efficiently at background rates and radiation doses ∼100 times larger than those observed for the Belle experiment. As demonstrated by many tests, the system has sufficient robustness to operate well in a strong magnetic field and high radiation and interaction environment with no significant degradation anticipated after many years of data taking. While this system was designed for a particular experiment, namely Belle II, our study can be applied to the construction of muon systems in many experiments.