Flux averaging devices for the infrared.
Roughened NaCl windows, diffused light ducts and coated spheres as flux averaging devices for IR REGION
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Roughened NaCl windows, diffused light ducts and coated spheres as flux averaging devices for IR REGION
Fluctuations of energy loss by charged particles in lithium-drifted silicon semiconductor detectors
Digitized spark chamber for charged particle and gamma radiation detection during balloon and satellite sounding
Small mass/power sensors are needed for autonomous Moon surface ops that provide alerts to impending adverse space weather conditions. In order to use current operational forecasting tools, a sensor capable of measuring both high-energy electrons and protons is needed. By combining high-TRL Timepix technology with a CdTe layer, this project leverages known technology to fill a critical gap for surface operations. The proposed work will bring ability to provide warnings to crews to shelter with a device that can easily be carried on the Lunar and Martian surfaces.
Quantitative studies of radiation damage in high-purity germanium gamma-ray detectors due to high-energy charged particles have been carried out; two 1.0 cm thick planar detectors were irradiated by 6 GeV/c protons. Under proton bombardment, degradation in the energy resolution was found to begin below 7 x 10 to the 7th protons/sq cm and increased proportionately in both detectors until the experiment was terminated at a total flux of 5.7 x 10 to the 8th protons/sq cm, equivalent to about a six year exposure to cosmic-ray protons in space. At the end of the irradiation, the FWHM resolution measured at 1332 keV stood at 8.5 and 13.6 keV, with both detectors of only marginal utility as a spectrometer due to the severe tailing caused by charge trapping. Annealing these detectors after proton damage was found to be much easier than after neutron damage.
Radiation imaging capabilities, essential in the nuclear nonproliferation regime, facilitate source localization and, in certain cases, spectroscopy. Scatter-based neutron cameras, which can measure the neutron signatures from special nuclear material, hold particular interest. Systems incorporating organic scintillators can extract neutron energy spectra, potentially distinguishing fission neutron sources from others, such as alpha-neutron sources. The development and testing of a scatter-based neutron imager, however, can be challenging without having an accurate simulation model or first constructing a prototype. This work describes a simulation pipeline that takes output from MCNPX-PoliMi simulations and creates the expected back-projection neutron images and neutron energy spectra. This pipeline was developed to improve the modeling of fast neutron imagers and bridge the current gap in literature, which predominantly focuses on gamma-ray Compton imager models. This work also reports on the significance of various real-world system considerations and their effects on the simulated detector responses. The pipeline was verified and validated with experimental data collected using a 252 Cf spontaneous fission source using a fast neutron scattering imager developed at the University of Michigan.
Detector responses were calculated for normalized sources in the Perkins and King energy group structure for a SNAP 8 power system on a NASA space station. Gamma decay rates were then calculated by using an expanded, updated list of isotopic decay data, and from these, actual detector responses were found for the SNAP 8 system. The results indicate that energy-dependent calculations must be made to determine decay gamma dose rates for actual reactor configurations. A simplified method for making these calculations has been devised.
The effects of radiation damage from proton bombardment of the four HEAO C-1 high purity germanium detectors have been measured and compared to predictions. Because of the presence of numerous gamma-ray lines in the detector background spectra and because of the relatively long exposure time of the HEAO 3 satellite to cosmic-ray and trapped protons, it has been possible to measure both the energy and time dependence of radiation damage. After 100 d in orbit, each of the four detectors has been exposed to approximately 3 x 10 to the 7th protons/sq cm, and the average energy resolution at 1460 keV had degraded from 3.2 keV fwhm to 8.6 keV fwhm. The lines were all broadened to the low energy side although the line profile was different for each of the four detectors. The damage-related contribution to the degradation in energy resolution was found to be linear in energy and proton influence.
Variable-temperature cryostats developed to study radiation damage to, and annealing of, germanium gamma-ray detectors. Two styles: one accommodates large single detector and one accommodates two medium-sized detectors. New cryostats allow complete testing of large-volume germanium gamma-ray detectors without breaking cryostat vacuum and removing detectors for annealing.
Measurement of x-rays from the surface of objects can tell us about the chemical composition Absorption of radiation causes characteristic fluorescence from material being irradiated. By measuring the spectrum of the radiation and identifying lines in the spectrum, the emitting element (s) can be identified. This technique works for any object that has no absorbing atmosphere and significant surface irradiation : Our Moon, the icy moons of Jupiter, the moons of Mars, the planet Mercury, Asteroids and Comets
High altitude balloon magnetic-core digitized spark chamber detector system for determining point sources of cosmic gamma radiation
Gamma ray telescope design and operation including low power fast pulse transistor circuit techniques
We are developing a hot-electron superconducting transition-edge sensor (TES) that is capable of counting THz photons and operates at T = 0.3K. The main driver for this work is moderate resolution spectroscopy (R approx. 1000) on the future space telescopes with cryogenically cooled (approx. 4 K) mirrors. The detectors for these telescopes must be background-limited with a noise equivalent power (NEP) approx. 10(exp -19)-10(exp -20) W/Hz(sup 1/2) over the range v = 0.3-10 THz. Above about 1 THz, the background photon arrival rate is expected to be approx. 10-100/s), and photon counting detectors may be preferable to an integrating type. We fabricated superconducting Ti nanosensors with a volume of approx. 3x10(exp -3) cubic microns on planar substrate and have measured the thermal conductance G to the thermal bath. A very low G = 4x10(exp -14) W/K, measured at 0.3 K, is due to the weak electron-phonon coupling in the material and the thermal isolation provided by superconducting Nb contacts. This low G corresponds to NEP(0.3K) = 3x10(exp -19) W/Hz(sup 1/2). This Hot-Electron Direct Detector (HEDD) is expected to have a sufficient energy resolution for detecting individual photons with v > 0.3 THz at 0.3 K. With the sensor time constant of a few microseconds, the dynamic range is approx. 50 dB.
The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) payload includes the Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) instrument, intended to fully characterize the radiation environment for the MSL mission. The RAD instrument operations concept is intended to reduce impact to spacecraft resources and effort for the MSL operations team. By design, RAD autonomously performs regular science observations without the need for frequent commanding from the Rover Compute Element (RCE). RAD operates with pre-defined "sleep" and "observe" periods, with an adjustable duty cycle for meeting power and data volume constraints during the mission. At the start of a new science observation, RAD performs a pre-observation activity to assess count rates for selected RAD detector elements. Based on this assessment, RAD can enter "solar event" mode, in which instrument parameters (including observation duration) are selected to more effectively characterize the environment. At the end of each observation period, RAD stores a time-tagged, fixed length science data packet in its non-volatile mass memory storage. The operating cadence is defined by adjustable parameters, also stored in non-volatile memory within the instrument. Periodically, the RCE executes an on-board sequence to transfer RAD science data packets from the instrument mass storage to the MSL downlink buffer. Infrequently, the RAD instrument operating configuration is modified by updating internal parameter tables and configuration entries.
The simulation of radiation interference effects and the results of a radiation interference test on two Voyager Sun Sensor prototype detector assemblies are reported. The derivation of test levels and requirements are discussed and show that cobalt 60 gamma radiation is an effective and practical simulator of the ionization dose rate effects induced by high-energy electron flux incident on the spacecraft at a rate of 3.7 x 10 to the 8th e/sq cm-sec (10 rad(Si)/s) during closest approach to Jupiter. The test results provide information that is used to confirm an analytic correlation, and to predict satisfactory performance of a spacecraft sun sensing device having stringent angular resolution requirements. The measured detector response shows that at dose rates incident on the detector elements of 2 rad(Si)/sec, which is four times that expected during Jupiter encounter, the radiation-induced angle error is almost an order of magnitude less than that allowed by the acceptance criteria.
Pioneer VI detector to measure degree of anisotropy of cosmic radiation at various energy ranges
Low gain avalanche diodes with DC- and AC-coupled readout were exposed to ionizing and non-ionizing radiation at levels relevant to future experiments in particle, nuclear, and medical physics and to astrophysics. Damage-related change in their acceptor removal constants and in the resistivity of the region between the guard ring and the active area are reported, as is change in the leakage current and depletion voltages of the active volumes.
Introduction: Barrier Infrared Detector (BIRD), Complementary Barrier Infrared Detector (CBIRD); Proton radiation effect on CBIRD performance: Dark current, Spectral characteristics; Summary.