High-Performance Plasma Panel Based Micropattern Detector

Nuclear physics research has a need for new and advanced radiation detector structures with improved characteristics to provide higher speed, position sensitive capability for detecting, tracking, imaging and analyzing charged particles in nuclear accelerators. This proposal addresses this need via development of an ultra-thin, ultra-low-mass gaseous detector based on plasma display panel TV technology with high gain, high positional resolution on the order of 100 microns, and sub-nanosecond rise time. The properties of a new class of low cost, digital counting, particle radiation sensors suggest that it could combine the best of several different detector technologies such as micropattern and GEM devices and Geiger-Mueller tubes into a high resolution, radiation damage resistant structure with order-of-magnitude performance advantages. In Phase-II, the Principal Investigator will work with the Physics Division of Oak Ridge National Laboratory and The University of Michigan, Physics Dept. to model and test prototypes of this new detector for ion beam accelerator applications. The Phase-II program will entail materials development, device fabrication and prototype demonstration with technical analysis including numerical simulations. Commercial Applications & amp; Other Benefits: The commercial applications for the proposed new radiation detector include nuclear medical imaging, homeland security, nonproliferation, nuclear accelerator beam and target diagnostics, and medical radiation therapeutics such as improved proton beam therapy for the treatment of cancer. Some of the potential medical imaging applications include lower cost and higher resolution detection for: X-ray multislice CT imagers, TOF-PET/CT, single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), computed tomography angiography (CTA), scintillation mammography, myocardial imaging, etc. For homeland security the proposed detectors could be used for active and passive radiation detection systems including: portal, parcel, cargo and vehicle monitors/radiography.