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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 37 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Nonlinear light-output calibration of the oxygenated xylene scintillators used in OMEGA neutron time-of-flight spectrometers

Neutron time-of-flight (nTOF) spectrometers are essential instruments for measuring and evaluating the performance of inertial confinement fusion implosions. The neutron spectrometers utilized for the OMEGA laser include two liquid-based scintillators, each consisting of a large volume filled with xylene that is coupled to four photomultiplier tubes. Analysis of the signal from these detectors requires detailed knowledge of the scintillator’s light output, which is needed to fit the nTOF spectrum, from which the neutron energy spectrum is informed. The light output is nonlinearly proportional to the neutron energy, which, in turn, affects the interpretation of the neutron energy spectrum from a TOF signal. A recent campaign on OMEGA was performed to calibrate the xylene detectors and infer the shape of the light-output curve. The campaign utilized materials with increasing Z placed in the OMEGA target chamber to initiate scattering events with the 14 MeV fusion neutrons. This process leads to the production of backscatter neutrons of varying energies that appear as peaks in the nTOF data. Simulations using a neutron transport code were combined with the measured deuterium–tritium neutron yields to calculate the expected backscattered neutron yields from the well-known scattering cross sections of each material. Furthermore, the neutron-energy dependent light output of the scintillator inferred from the experiment is compared to the light-output curve simulated with a neutron transport code for the following neutron energies: 1.5, 2.5, 6, and 14 MeV.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2024

Novel 4x4 SiPM array readout with integrated preamplification stage, optimized for the PWO detectors of the EIC EEEMCal

Here we are reporting on a new readout circuit developed for the lead tungstate (PbWO4) scintillation detectors for the Electron Ion Collider (EIC) Electron Endcap Electromagnetic Calorimeter EEEMCal. The high magnetic field region precludes the use of photomultiplier tubes while the detector requirements specify good spectral resolution performance and fast pulse integration over a large dynamic range. We selected a silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) from Hamamatsu and produced a matrix of 4 x 4 sensors to cover the 20 mm x 20 mm scintillator coupling surface. Signal acquisition and amplification electronics boards were designed and integrated with the sensor board to produce a compact high performance readout package. A prototype detector was built and tested at Jefferson Lab with encouraging resolution and timing performance results.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2024

Searching for cosmological stochastic backgrounds by notching out resolvable compact binary foregrounds with next-generation gravitational-wave detectors

Stochastic gravitational-wave backgrounds can be of either cosmological or astrophysical origin. The detection of an astrophysical stochastic gravitational-wave background with ground-based interferometers is expected in the near future. Perhaps even more excitingly, the detection of stochastic backgrounds of cosmological origin by future ground-based interferometers could reveal invaluable information about the early Universe. From this perspective, the astrophysical background is a foreground that can prevent the extraction of this information from the data. In this paper, we revisit a time-frequency domain notching procedure previously proposed to remove the astrophysical foreground in the context of next-generation ground-based detectors, but we consider the more realistic scenario where we remove individually detectable signals by taking into account the uncertainty in the estimation of their parameters. We find that time-frequency domain masks can still efficiently remove the astrophysical foreground and suppress it to about 5% of its original level. Further removal of the foreground formed by unresolvable events (in particular, unresolvable binary neutron stars), which is about 10 times larger than the residual foreground from realistic notching, would require detector sensitivity improvements. Therefore, the main limitation in the search for a cosmological background is the unresolvable foreground itself, and not the residual of the notching procedure.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Searching for cosmological stochastic backgrounds by notching out resolvable compact binary foregrounds with next-generation gravitational-wave detectors

Stochastic gravitational-wave backgrounds can be of either cosmological or astrophysical origin. The detection of an astrophysical stochastic gravitational-wave background with ground-based interferometers is expected in the near future. Perhaps even more excitingly, the detection of stochastic backgrounds of cosmological origin by future ground-based interferometers could reveal invaluable information about the early Universe. From this perspective, the astrophysical background is a {\it foreground} that can prevent the extraction of this information from the data. In this paper, we revisit a time-frequency domain notching procedure previously proposed to remove the astrophysical foreground in the context of next-generation ground-based detectors, but we consider the more realistic scenario where we remove individually detectable signals by taking into account the uncertainty in the estimation of their parameters. We find that time-frequency domain masks can still efficiently remove the astrophysical foreground and suppress it to about $5\%$ of its original level. Further removal of the foreground formed by unresolvable events (in particular, unresolvable binary neutron stars), which is about $10$ times larger than the residual foreground from realistic notching, would require detector sensitivity improvements. Therefore, the main limitation in the search for a cosmological background is the unresolvable foreground itself, and not the residual of the notching procedure.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2020

EPRI Demonstration of an Autonomous Site Characterization Vehicle - 20523

A substantial effort is applied in performing radiological characterization of structures and land areas during decommissioning of a nuclear facility. This includes multiple surveys of land areas and large structures to support eventual site release under the Multi Agency Survey and Site Investigation Manual (MARSSIM, Reference 1). These surveys are typically performed using manually delivered systems, which is time consuming and labor intensive. Radiological surveys intentionally follow a prescribed protocol with respect to areas covered, scan speeds, responses to elevated readings, required detector offsets, the need for repeat measurements, etc. Based on these attributes, combined with the repetitive effort of performing surveys over large areas, automation of radiological characterization techniques has a high potential to be successful and promises substantial benefit. EPRI has performed a project that resulted in the development and demonstration of an autonomous site characterization system. This EPRI project focused on building surfaces and the surfaces of large land areas as these configurations lend themselves more readily to automated survey. The project included: - Identification of the requirements for an autonomous site characterization system; - A survey of existing control systems that use automation to conduct characterization of structures and land areas. - As no fully adequate systems were identified, a complete system was developed that utilized commercially available detection and analysis systems and a self driving vehicle owned by EPRI. The system was demonstrated at the Kewaunee nuclear power plant site in the fall of 2019. The demonstration included: - Autonomous surveys of floor areas inside the Auxiliary Building at Kewaunee after manually controlled mapping of the survey areas. - For land areas, the vehicle autonomously surveyed areas using travel paths had been preprogrammed onto an internet available map of area. In this case, GPS coordinates from the preprogramming were used for navigation by the vehicles guidance system. This paper summarizes the characterization system development and system demonstration which will also be published in an EPRI report in the first half of 2020. (authors)

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
DOE OSTI2020

Development of High-QE GaN Photodectors for Liquid Noble Particle Detectors

Detection of the handful of photons generated when a dark matter particle interacts in a liquid Xenon detector requires a new type of photodetector with very high detection efficiency at ultraviolet wavelengths, very low radioactive backgrounds, and essentially no measureable readout noise (achieved with devices with high intrisic gain). Such devices would find wide applicability to not only high energy physics experiments, but to a number of commercial applications including, e.g., biomedical imaging of fluorescent tags. We developed photodetectors based on amorphous GaN thin film structures (photocathodes) grown by molecular beam epitaxy on quartz windows. We also developed approaches to integrate these photocathode device structures with vacuum electron multipliers. All materials and fabrication techniques were developed to minimize radioactive backgrounds in materials, so these detectors could be used for very low count rate experiments, such as the future liquid-Xenon dark matter detectors, and future liquid-Argon neutrino detectors. We demonstrated growth of very high quantum efficiency amorphous GaN cathodes grown on a number of different substrates (Stainless steel, p-Silicon) reaching detection efficiencies of 80% at 220nm. The key to this growth was to use nitrogen plasma-assistend MBEs and very low growth temperatures. We also discovered that thinner structures (e.g.,40nm a-GaN thin films) had the best performance. We successfully demonstrated techniques for the vacuum transfer of these photocathode structures to a novel chamber that used hydraulics and bellow to form a cold indium bond needed to integrate these cathodes into sealed-tube devices. A complete, stand-along, device could not be completed during this proposal period due to difficulties in growing structures on the thick quartz window. Subsequent work is aimed at addressing this difficulty, by growing a buffer layer on the quartz substrate.

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES↗
DOE OSTI2023

Sub-millimeter resolution SiPM-based neutron anger camera

Thermal and cold neutron beamlines require detector systems that have a high neutron efficiency, large active area, and good spatial resolution. One type of detector that has been implemented at beamlines at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) is a scintillator-based Anger camera that utilizes photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) as photodetectors. In this work, we present a new Anger camera design that replaces PMTs with silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs). This new design offers better resolution, less distortion, and more compactness than the previous cameras. A camera with active area of ~100 cm 2 was shown to have a spatial resolution better than 0.5 mm. Additionally, the use of SiPMs allows for use in strong magnetic fields, opening the possibility of additional experimental capabilities. In conclusion, prototype has been built that demonstrates vacuum-compatibility, as required for a proposed beamline for the Second Target Station at SNS.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2020

Evaluation of a streaming readout solution for Jefferson Lab experiments

Jefferson Lab (JLab) operates the CEBAF accelerator that provides a high energy (up to 12 GeV) and high current (up to 150 µA) polarized electron beam for fixed target experiments. JLab's mission is to provide substantial progress in understanding the Quantum Chromo Dynamics (QCD), the current theory of the spectrum and the dynamics of hadronic matter. Given the broad scientific program a general-purpose detector, CLAS12, has been designed and constructed. Such a detector requires a sophisticated trigger and current experiments use an on-line FPGA-based system that relies upon custom firmware and electronics both of which are difficult reconfigure from one experiment to the next. To overcome these challenges transitioning to a streaming readout has been proposed since it would allow a more flexible, easier to debug, software trigger to be developed. To facilitate this JLab is gaining experience with streaming readout systems and is actively working to design and test a streaming data acquisition architecture. Significant work has already been done to make existing front-end electronics compatible with operation in streaming mode. Software-wise, much work remains to be done but an existing framework, TriDAS, which was developed for underwater neutrino telescopes can, in principle, be used with the existing JLab hardware. A test stand is already in place in the INDRA DAQ development lab at JLab. This paper will present the development of this TriDAS based test system and it?s operation in-beam using parts of the CLAS12 detector to evaluate streaming readout for a large general purpose detector.

Battaglieri, Marco↗
DOE OSTI2021

Single particle detection system for strong-field QED experiments

Abstract Measuring signatures of strong-field quantum electrodynamics (SF-QED) processes in an intense laser field is an experimental challenge: it requires detectors to be highly sensitive to single electrons and positrons in the presence of the typically very strong x-ray and γ -photon background levels. In this paper, we describe a particle detector capable of diagnosing single leptons from SF-QED interactions and discuss the background level simulations for the upcoming Experiment-320 at FACET-II (SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory). The single particle detection system described here combines pixelated scintillation LYSO screens and a Cherenkov calorimeter. We detail the performance of the system using simulations and a calibration of the Cherenkov detector at the ELBE accelerator. Single 3 GeV leptons are expected to produce approximately 537 detectable photons in a single calorimeter channel. This signal is compared to Monte-Carlo simulations of the experiment. A signal-to-noise ratio of 18 in a single Cherenkov calorimeter detector is expected and a spectral resolution of 2% is achieved using the pixelated LYSO screens.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Jet angularities in photoproduction at the Electron-Ion Collider

We consider the one-parameter family of jet substructure observables known as angularities using the specific case of inclusive jets arising from photoproduction events at an Electron-Ion Collider (EIC). We perform numerical calculations at next-to-leading logarithmic accuracy within perturbative QCD and compare our results to PYTHIA 6 predictions. Overall, we find good agreement and conclude that jet substructure observables are feasible at the EIC despite the relatively low jet transverse momentum and particle multiplicities. We investigate the size of subleading power corrections relevant at low energies within the Monte Carlo setup. In order to establish the validity of the Monte Carlo tune, we also perform comparisons to jet shape data at HERA. We further discuss detector requirements necessary for angularity measurements at an EIC, focusing on hadron calorimeter energy and spatial resolutions. Possible applications of precision jet substructure measurements at the EIC include the tuning of Monte Carlo event generators, the extraction of nonperturbative parameters and studies of cold nuclear matter effects.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Opportunities and challenges to study solar neutrinos with a Q-Pix pixel readout

The study of solar neutrinos presents significant opportunities in astrophysics, nuclear physics, and particle physics. However, the low-energy nature of these neutrinos introduces considerable challenges to isolate them from background events, requiring detectors with low-energy threshold, high spatial and energy resolutions, and low data rate. We present the study of solar neutrinos with a kiloton-scale liquid argon detector located underground, instrumented with a pixel readout using the Q-Pix technology. We explore the potential of using volume fiducialization, directional topological information, light signal coincidence, and pulse-shape discrimination to enhance solar neutrino sensitivity. We find that discriminating neutrino signals below 5 MeV is very difficult. However, we show that these methods are useful for the detection of solar neutrinos when external backgrounds are sufficiently understood and when the detector is built using low-background techniques. When building a workable background model for this study, we identify 𝛾 background from the cavern walls and from capture of 𝛼 particles in radon decay chains as both critical to solar neutrino sensitivity and significantly underconstrained by existing measurements. Finally, we highlight that the main advantage of the use of Q-Pix for solar neutrino studies lies in its ability to enable the continuous readout of all low-energy events with minimal data rates and manageable storage for further off-line analyses.

multi-purpose particle detectors↗
DOE OSTI2025

Aspects of Higgs Physics at a $\sqrt{s}=3$ TeV Muon Collider with detailed detector simulation

The Muon Collider is one of the most promising future collider facilities with the potential to reach multi-TeV center-of-mass energy and high luminosity. Due to the significant Higgs boson production cross section in muon-antimuon collisions at such high energies, the collider offers an excellent opportunity for in-depth exploration of Higgs boson properties. It holds the capability to significantly advance our understanding of the Higgs sector to a very high level of precision. However, the presence of beam-induced background resulting from the decay of the beam muons poses unique challenges for detector development and event reconstruction. In this paper, the prospects for measuring various Higgs boson properties at a center-of-mass energy of 3 TeV are presented, using a detailed detector simulation in a realistic environment. The study demonstrates the feasibility of achieving high precision results with the current state-of-the-art detector design. In addition, the paper discusses the detector requirements necessary to achieve this level of accuracy.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Requirements and R&D for detectors at the future Electron–Ion Collider

The Electron–Ion Collider’s (EIC’s) ability to collide high-energy electron beams with high-energy ion beams will provide access to those regions in the nucleon and nuclei where their structure is dominated by gluons. Moreover, polarized beams in the EIC will give unique access to the spatial and spin structure of gluons and sea-quarks in the proton and light nuclei. The EIC will be an unprecedented collider with luminosities 2–3 orders of magnitude higher than previous e + p colliders over a very wide range of center-of-mass energies, from 20 to 140 GeV, while accommodating highly polarized electron and nucleon beams. Equally demanding are the requirements for the detector(s) that will be needed to carry out the physics program: hermetic coverage in tracking, calorimetry and particle ID within a wide pseudorapidity range, substantial angular and momentum acceptance in the hadron-going direction, as well as high quality hadronic calorimetry among others. Finally, this paper gives a brief overview of the detector requirements, current general-purpose detector concepts, and the ongoing EIC detector R&D efforts.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Preliminary Insights Into the Feasibility of Determining the Purification Date of Enriched Uranium by Direct Measurement of the 230 Th/ 234 U Ratio Using an All-Faraday Detector Configuration on the Neoma MC-ICP-MS

Rationale: Mass spectrometric measurement of the 230 Th/ 234 U ratio to calculate the purification age of enriched uranium is typically conducted via a combination of ion counters and faraday detectors, thus requiring an inter-detector calibration scheme. Here, our aim is to understand whether the pursuit of a simplified measurement scheme involving only faraday detectors is feasible. Methods: We investigate the possibility of determining U-Th model ages for two enriched uranium standards (NBL U630 and U850) by direct measurement of the 230 Th/ 234 U ratio (without chromatographic separation or isotope dilution) on a ThermoFisher Scientific Neoma MC-ICP-MS utilizing both solution and laser ablation (LA)-based sampling techniques and an all-faraday detector configuration. Results: For the solution mode analyses conducted on aliquots containing sub μg/mL total U, we produce composite average 230 Th/ 234 U model dates of May 19, 1988 (± 351 days), and March 26, 1961 (± 2.5 years) using the directly measured 230 Th/ 234 U ratios for the NBL U630 and U850 uranium standards, which have certified purification dates of June 6, 1988 (± 190 days), and December 31, 1957 (± 36.5 days), respectively. The ages produced by LA-based sampling of dried residues of the same standards deposited onto cotton TexWipes are less accurate and of poorer precision (June 23, 2004 ± 8.7 years for U630 and December 21, 1965 ± 7.9 years for U850) but still yield meaningful information in regards to the purification date. Conclusions: We believe that further refinement of the all faraday detector measurement approach to include development of a more robust Th/U relative sensitivity factor determination, signal cutoff selection, and data processing protocols will allow for this approach to be confidently applied to enriched uranium materials with unknown purification histories. Potential advantages of the method include the reduced sample handling and infrastructure requirements as well as the ability to simultaneously generate a broad picture of the uranium isotopic composition in tandem with the U-Th age determination.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Large scale SiPM testing for the Cosmic Muon Veto detector

A Cosmic Muon Veto (CMV) detector using extruded plastic scintillators is being built around the mini-Iron Calorimeter (mini-ICAL) detector at the transit campus of the India based Neutrino Observatory, Madurai. The extruded plastic scintillators will be embedded with wavelength shifting (WLS) fibres to absorb scintillating photons and propgate the re-emitted photons to the silicon-photomultipliers for the electronic signals. The CMV detector will require 760 extruded plastic scintillators to shield the mini-ICAL detector, and will require 3040 SiPMs for the readout. The design goal for the cosmic muon veto efficiency of the CMV is $>$99.99\% and fake veto rate less than 10$^{-5}$. Hence, every SiPM used in the detector needs to be characterised to satisfy the design goal of the CMV. For this, a large-scale testing system was developed, using an LED driver, to measure the gain and noise rate of each SiPM, and thus determine it's breakdown voltage ($V_{br}$) and optimum operating overvoltage ($V_{ov}$).

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2020

AI-optimized detector design for the future Electron-Ion Collider: the dual-radiator RICH case

Advanced detector R&D requires performing computationally intensive and detailed simulations as part of the detector-design optimization process. Here, we propose a general approach to this process based on Bayesian optimization and machine learning that encodes detector requirements. As a case study, we focus on the design of the dual-radiator Ring Imaging Cherenkov (dRICH) detector under development as a potential component of the particle-identification system at the future Electron-Ion Collider (EIC). The EIC is a US-led frontier accelerator project for nuclear physics, which has been proposed to further explore the structure and interactions of nuclear matter at the scale of sea quarks and gluons. We show that the detector design obtained with our automated and highly parallelized framework outperforms the baseline dRICH design within the assumptions of the current model. Our technique can be applied to any detector R&D, provided that realistic simulations are available.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2022

Data Compression in the NEXT-100 Data Acquisition System

NEXT collaboration detectors are based on energy measured by an array of photomultipliers (PMT) and topological event filtering based on an array of silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs). The readout of the PMT sensors for low-frequency noise effects and detector safety issues requires a grounded cathode connection that makes the readout AC-couple with variations in the signal baseline. Strict detector requirements of energy resolution better than 1% FWHM require a precise baseline reconstruction that is performed offline for data analysis and detector performance characterization. Baseline variations make it inefficient to apply traditional lossy data compression techniques, such as zero-suppression, that help to minimize data throughput and, therefore, the dead time of the system. However, for the readout of the SiPM sensors with less demanding requirements in terms of accuracy, a traditional zero-suppression is currently applied with a configuration that allows for a compression ratio of around 71%. The third stage in the NEXT detectors program, the NEXT-100 detector, is a 100 kg detector that instruments approximately five times more PMT sensors and twice the number of SiPM sensors than its predecessor, the NEXT-White detector, putting more pressure in the DAQ throughput, expected to be over 900 MB/s with the current configuration, which will worsen the dead time of the acquisition data system. This paper describes the data compression techniques applied to the sensor data in the NEXT-100 detector, which reduces data throughput and minimizes dead time while maintaining the event rate to the level of its predecessor, around 50 Hz.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2025

Novel Light Detectors for Directional MeV scale DM Detectors

The search for sub-GeV dark matter requires novel detector development due to the small expected ionization signal and large backgrounds, many of which still need to be well-modeled. For this reason, to unambiguously detect dark matter, a detector must be able to determine the directionality of the incoming particles so that the daily modulation of the rate can be used to confirm a dark matter signal. This can be accomplished by combining anisotropic scintillating crystals, such as trans-Stilbene, as a detector target, with an optically-sensitive Skipper CCD as a readout. I will present on my work over the past six months developing the first prototype of this detector, including optical testing of the trans-Stilbene and design of the detector. This work will lead to characterization of the CCDs and deployment of the first prototype later this year.

Hoch, Nora [MIT]↗