Effects due to a Pu-C source on a HPGe detector and the corresponding neutron shielding

A gamma spectrum of a Pu-C source is measured using a p-type HPGe detector, whose three peaks (full energy, single-escape and double-escape peak) can be used as a calibration source for the beam energy measurement system of BEPCII. The effect of fast neutron damage on the energy resolution of the HPGe detector is studied, which indicates that the energy resolution begins to deteriorate when the detector is subject to 2×10⁷ n/cm² fastneutrons. The neutron damage mechanism and detector repair methods are reviewed. The Monte Carlo simulation technique is utilized to study the shielding of the HPGe detector from the fast neutron radiation damage, which is of great significance for the future commissioning of the beam energy measurement system.     

Study of radiation background at the north crossing point of the BEPCⅡ in collision mode

Understanding the radiation background at the north crossing point (NCP) in the tunnel of BEPCII is crucial for the performance safety of the High Purity Germanium (HPGe) detector, and in turn of great significance for long-term stable running of the energy measurement system. Therefore, as the first step, a NaI(Tl) detector is constructed to continuously measure the radiation level of photons as background for future experiments. Furthermore, gamma and neutron dosimeters are utilized to explore the radiation distribution in the vicinity of the NCP where the HPGe detector will be located. Synthesizing all obtained information, the shielding for neutron irradiation is studied based on model-dependent theoretical analysis.     

X-ray photon-counting detector based on a micro-channel plate for pulsar navigation

The pulse time of arrival (TOA) is a determining parameter for accurate timing and positioning in X-ray pulsar navigation. The pulse TOA can be calculated by comparing the measured arrival time with the predicted arrival time of the X-ray pulse for pulsar. In this study, in order to research the measurement of pulse arrival time, an experimental system is set up. The experimental system comprises a simulator of the X-ray pulsar, an X-ray detector, a time-measurement system, and a data-processing system. An X-ray detector base is proposed on the basis of the micro-channel plate (MCP), which is sensitive to soft X-ray in the 1–10 keV band. The MCP-based detector, the structure and principle of the experimental system, and results of the pulse profile are described in detail. In addition, a discussion of the effects of different X-ray pulse periods and the quantum efficiency of the detector on pulse-profile signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is presented. Experimental results reveal that the SNR of the measured pulse profile becomes enhanced as the quantum efficiency of the detector increases. The SNR of the pulse profile is higher when the period of the pulse is smaller at the same integral.     

Upgrade of beam energy measurement system at BEPC-Ⅱ

The beam energy measurement system is of great importance for both BEPC-Ⅱ accelerator and BES-III detector. The system is based on measuring the energies of Compton back-scattered photons. In order to meet the requirements of data taking and improve the measurement accuracy, the system has continued to be upgraded, which involves the updating of laser and optics subsystems, replacement of a view-port of the laser to the vacuum insertion subsystem, the use of an electric cooling system for a high purity germanium detector, and improvement of the data acquisition and processing subsystem. The upgrade system guarantees the smooth and efficient measurement of beam energy at BEPC-II and enables accurate offline energy values for further physics analysis at BES-Ⅲ.     

Measurement of X-ray photon energy and arrival time using a silicon drift detector

Detecting the X-ray emission of pulsars and obtaining the photons' time of arrival are the foundational steps in autonomous navigation via X-ray pulsar measurement. The precision of a pulse's time of arrival is mainly determined by the precision of photon arrival time measurement. In this work, a silicon drift detector is used to measure photon energy and arrival time. The measurement system consists of a signal detector, a processing unit, a signal acquisition unit and a data receiving unit. This system acquires the energy resolution and arrival time information of photons. In particular, background noise with different energies disturbs pulse profile forming, the system can also achieve a high signal-to-noise ratio profile. Ground test results show that this system can be applied in autonomous navigation based on X-ray pulsar measurement.     

Conditioning the γ spectrometer for activity measurement at very high background

The application of a high purity Germanium(HPGe) γ spectrometer in determining the fuel element burnup in a future reactor is studied.The HPGe detector is exposed by a 60Co source with varying irradiation rate from 10×103s-1 to 150×103s-1 to simulate the input counting rate in real reactor environment.A137 Cs and a152 Eu source are positioned at given distances to generate a certain event rate in the detector with the former being proposed as a labeling nuclide to measure the burnup of a fuel element.It is shown that both the energy resolution slightly increasing with the irradiation rate and the passthrough rate at high irradiation level match the requirement of the real application.The influence of the background is studied in the different parameter sets used in the specially developed procedure of background subtraction.It is demonstrated that with the typical input irradiation rate and 137Cs intensity relevant to a deep burnup situation,the precision of the 137Cs counting rate in the current experiment is consistently below 2.8%,indicating a promising feasibility of utilizing an HPGe detector in the burnup measurement in future bed-like reactors.     

Two-dimensional photon counting imaging detector based on a Vernier position sensitive anode readout

A two-dimensional photon counting imaging detector based on a Vernier position sensitive anode is reported. The decode principle and design of a two-dimensional Vernier anode are introduced in detail. A photon counting imaging system was built based on a Vernier anode. The image of very weak optical radiation can be reconstructed by image processing in a period of integration time. The resolution is superior to 100 μm according to the resolution test. The detector may realize the imaging of very weak particle flow of high-energy photons, electrons and ions, so it can be used for high-energy physics, deep space exploration, spectral measurement and bio-luminescence detection.     

Employing a Cerenkov detector for the thickness measurement of X-rays in a scattering background

The variation in environmental scattering background is a major source of systematic errors in X- ray inspection and measurement systems. As the energy of these photons consisting of environmental scattering background is much lower generally, the Cerenkov detectors having the detection threshold are likely insensitive to them and able to exclude their influence. A thickness measurement experiment is designed to verify the idea by employing a Cerenkov detector and an ionizing chamber for comparison. Furthermore, it is also found that the application of the Cerenkov detectors is helpful to exclude another systematic error from the variation of low energy components in the spectrum incident on the detector volume.     

Displacement and Force Measurements with Quadrant Photodetector in Optical Tweezers

A technique of displacement and force measurements with a photodiode quadrant detector in an optical tweezers system is presented. The stiffness of optical trap is calibrated and the leukemia cell membrane tension is measured. The results show that the optical tweezers combined with the quadrant detector is a very useful tool for detecting the displacement and force with a millisecond-order response.     

Linearity of quadrant avalanche photodiode in laser tracking system

The tracking precision of laser tracking system is affected by the angular resolution of quadrant avalanche photodiode. According to the detecting principle of quadrant avalanche photodiode, the light spot area, the optical intensity distribution, the non-uniformity of response, and the signal-to-noise ratio （SNR） that affect the linearity of the detector are studied. The light optical spot area and the optical intensity distribution can be adjusted through software. The non-uniformity of response and the SNR are influenced by the noise of the detector. Because the noise is affected by the optical intensity of the incident laser, it is difficult to obtain the law of the linearity caused by noise. When the light spot area and the optical intensity distribution are fixed, the other factors can be measured. With the detector scanned in raster scanning mode, the non-uniformity of response is measured at different SNRs. The linearity of detector is measured by a moving target that can reflect the illuminating laser to the detector in diffuse reflection mode. The nonlinear error of the linearity of detector can be minimized by increasing the SNR.     

Simulation and measurement of the resonant Schottky pickup

A resonant Schottky pickup with high sensitivity, built by GSI, will be used for nuclear mass and lifetime measurement at CSRe. The basic concepts of Schottky noise signals, a brief introduction of the geometry of the detector, the transient response of the detector, and MAFIA simulated and perturbation measured results of characteristics are presented in this paper. The resonant frequency of the pickup is about 243 MHz and can be slightly changed at a range of 3 MHz. The unloaded quality factor is about 1072 and the shunt impedance is 76 kΩ. The measured results of the characteristics are in agreement with the MAFIA simulations.     

Position sensor based on slit imaging

A position sensor based on slit imaging is proposed and its measurement principle is described. An imaging slit is illuminated by a collimated laser beam with square-wave modulation and imaged on a detection double slit through a 4f system. A magnified image of the detection double slit is formed on a bi-cell detector. The position of the imaging slit is obtained by detecting light intensity on two parts of the hi-cell detector. In experiments, the feasibility of the sensor was verified. The repeatability was less than 40 nm.     

A three-step system calibration procedure with error compensation for 3D shape measurement

System calibration, which usually involves complicated and time-consuming procedures, is crucial for any three-dimensional （3D） shape measurement system based on vision. A novel improved method is proposed for accurate calibration of such a measurement system. The system accuracy is improved with considering the nonlinear measurement error created by the difference between the system model and real measurement environment. We use Levenberg-Marquardt optimization algorithm to compensate the error and get a good result. The improved method has a 50% improvement of re-projection accuracy compared with our previous method. The measurement accuracy is maintained well within 1.5% of the overall measurement depth range.     

Optimum condition of efficiency functions for HPGe γ-ray detectors in the 121-1408 keV energy range

The optimum condition of three commonly used functions in the Genie 2000 γ spectra analysis software have been studied in the 121-1408 keV energy range. The three functions are applied for fitting the full-energy peak efficiency of the HPGe gamma-ray detector. A detailed procedure to obtain the optimum condition is described. The HPGe detector is calibrated at 11 cm by three radioactive sources of point form （^152Eu, ^137Cs, ^60Co） providing 11 energy peaks. After data processing, results shows that the three functions used in the Genie 2000 gamma spectra analysis software fit best at orders 3-5. Lastly the standard radioactive source 133Ba is chosen to validate the results. Differences between the standard activity of 133Ba and the result obtained from the fitting functions are below 1.5%. Therefore the optimum orders of the three functions used in the Genie 2000 3, spectra analysis software are 3-5 with the 11 energy peaks.     

Investigation of the Imaging Polarization Effect Based on a Pixellated CdZnTe Detector

A pixel array CdZnTe imaging system, employing a 40 × 40× 5 mm^3 pixellated CdZnTe detector, is established. The imaging polarization effect in the CdZnTe pixellated detector for a collimated CS137 Gamma source is investigated in detail. The experimental results for different irradiated fluxes indicate that excessive irradiated flux indeed causes central pixels to be shut off completely. The imaging performance of the polarized detector is severely degraded. Polarized detector counts are simultaneously reduced to one-third of the non-polarized detector counts. A theoretical model of potential distribution is also proposed by solving the Poisson equation and, in turn, the electric potential distortion for high irradiated flux is discussed by comparison with the experimental results.     

A pilot experiment for mass measurement at CSRe

A pilot experiment of mass measurement was performed at CSRe with the method of isochronous mass spectrometry. The secondary fragments produced via RIBLL2 with the primary beam of 400 MeV/u ^36Ar delivered by CSRm were injected into CSRe. The revolution periods of the stored ions,which depend on the mass-to-charge ratios of the stored ions,were measured with a time-of-flight detector system. The results show that the mass resolution around 8×10^-6 for △m/m is achieved.     

Measurement of Neutron Fluxes and Spectra during the NT-TBM Operation of CN HCSB

Neutronics measurement system provides neutron fluxes and spectra at the locations of beryllium multiplier and tritium breeder during the operation of the NT-TBM （D-D and D-T phase in ITER）. This is important for studying and assessing capabilities of beryllium multiplier and tritium breeder in the China helium cooled solid breeder （CNHCSB）. A special neutron diagnostic system has been proposed that allows to measure neutron fluxes and spectra without interrupt the operation of ITER. This system includes encapsulated foil activation analysis, micro-fission chamber detectors （MFC）, and a compact neutron spectrometer using natural diamond detector （NDD）.     

Determining polymer film thickness during manufacturing with broadband transmission

A novel broadband transmission method to determine polymer film thickness during manufacturing is proposed, and a measurement system is developed based on this method. The relationship between broadband optical power and film thickness is deduced according to the Lambert-Beer law. The system is composed of a halogen light and an optical power meter. Results show that the measurement error of this method is approximately 1 μm, and the resolution of the system is below 0.4 μm for polymer films with less than 100-μm thickness.     

Investigation of fast of runaway electrons pitch angle scattering in the EAST tokamak

This paper reports that an experimental investigation of fast pitch angle scattering （FPAS） of runaway electrons in the EAST tokamak has been performed. From the newly developed infrared detector （HgCdTe） diagnostic system, the infrared synchrotron radiation emitted by relativistic electrons can be obtained as a function of time. The FPAS is analysed by means of the infrared detector diagnostic system and the other correlative diagnostic systems （including electron-cyclotron emission, hard x-ray, neutrons）. It is found that the intensity of infrared synchrotron radiation and the electron-cyclotron emission signal increase rapidly at the time of FPAS because of the fast increase of pitch angle and the perpendicular velocity of the energetic runaway electrons. The Parail and Pogutse instability is a possible mechanism for the FPAS.