Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Schnepple, W..
The Space Shuttle Challenger, with Spacelab 3 as its payload, was launched into orbit April 29, 1985. The mission, number 51-B, emphasized materials processing in space, although a wide variety of experiments in other disciplines were also carried onboard. One of the materials processing experiments on this flight is described, specifically the growth of single crystals of mercuric iodide by physical vapor transport.
A pulse processing technique has been developed which improves the gamma-ray energy resolution of mercuric iodide detectors. The technique employs a fast (100 ns) and a slow (6.4 microsec) pulse height analysis to correct for signal variations due to variations in charge trapping. The capabilities of the technique for energy resolution enhancement are discussed as well as the utility of the technique for examining the trapping characteristics of individual detectors. An energy resolution of 2.6 percent FWHM at 662 keV was achieved with an acceptance efficiency of 100 percent from a mercuric iodide detector which gives 8.3 percent FWHM using standard techniques.
The purpose of this investigation is to grow more-perfect mercuric iodide crystals in a low-gravity environment by taking advantage of diffusion-controlled growth conditions and by avoiding the problem of strain dislocations produced by the crystal's weight. This crystal has considerable practical importance as a sensitive gamma-ray detector and energy spectrometer that can operate at ambient temperature, as compared to presently available detectors that must be cooled to near liquid nitrogen temperatures. However, the performance of mercuric iodide crystals only rarely approaches the expected performance, presumably because some of the free electrical charges produced within the crystal are not collected at the electrodes, but instead remain trapped or immobilized at crystal defects. An efficient high atomic number semiconductor detector capable of operating at room temperature utilizing single HgI2 crystals offers a greater potential than existing detector technology.
An analysis of different preamplification systems for use with room temperature mercuric iodide X-ray detectors has been performed. Resistor-, drain-, and light-feedback preamplifiers have been studied. Energy resolution values of 295 eV (FWHM) for an Fe-55 source (5.9 keV) and 225 eV (FWHM) for a pulser have been obtained with both the detector and the input FET at room temperature using a pulsed-light feedback preamplifier. Improvement in energy resolution by cooling the input FET using a small Peltier element has been discussed.