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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 127 records · Page 7
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1974

A detector for high frequency modulation in auroral particle fluxes

A high time resolution electron detector has been developed for use in sounding rocket studies of the aurora. The detector is used to look for particle bunching in the range 50 kHz-10 MHz. The design uses an electron multiplier and an onboard frequency spectrum analyzer. By using the onboard analyzer, the data can be transmitted back to ground on a single 93-kHz voltage-controlled oscillator. The detector covers the 50 kHz-10 MHz range six times per second and detects modulation on the order of a new percent of the total electron flux. Spectra are presented for a flight over an auroral arc.

Spiger, R. J.↗
DOE OSTI2023

High spatial resolution direct conversion amorphous selenium X-ray detectors with monolithically integrated CMOS readout

Recent progress in the field of micron-scale spatial resolution direct conversion X-ray detectors for high-energy synchrotron light sources serve applications ranging from nondestructive and noninvasive microscopy techniques which provide insight into the structure and morphology of crystals, to medical diagnostic measurement devices. Amorphous selenium ( a -Se) as a wide-bandgap thermally evaporated photoconductor exhibits ultra-low thermal generation rates for dark carriers and has been extensively used in X-ray medical imaging. Being an amorphous material, it can further be deposited over large areas at room temperatures and at substantially lower costs as compared to crystalline semiconductors. Here, to address the demands for a high-energy and high spatial resolution X-ray detector for synchrotron light source applications, we have thermally evaporated a -Se on a Mixed-Mode Pixel Array Detector (MM-PAD) Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC). The ASIC format consists of 128 × 128 square pixels each 150 μm on a side. A 200 μm a -Se layer was directly deposited on the ASIC followed by a metal top electrode. The completed detector assembly was tested with 45 kV Ag and 23 kV Cu X-ray tube sources. The detector fabrication, performances, Modulation Transfer Function (MTF) measurements, and simulations are reported.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
NASA NTRS2015

SuperHERO: Design of a New Hard X-Ray Focusing Telescope

SuperHERO is a hard x-ray (20-75 keV) balloon-borne telescope, currently in its proposal phase, that will utilize high angular-resolution grazing-incidence optics, coupled to novel CdTe multi-pixel, fine-pitch (250 micrometers) detectors. The high-resolution electroformed-nickel, grazing-incidence optics were developed at MSFC, and the detectors were developed at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in the UK, and are being readied for flight at GSFC. SuperHERO will use two active pointing systems; one for carrying out astronomical observations and another for solar observations during the same flight. The telescope will reside on a light-weight, carbon-composite structure that will integrate the Wallops Arc Second Pointer into its frame, for arcsecond or better pointing. This configuration will allow for Long Duration Balloon flights that can last up to 4 weeks. This next generation design, which is based on the High Energy Replicated Optics (HERO) and HERO to Explore the Sun (HEROES) payloads, will be discussed, with emphasis on the core telescope components.

SuperHERO↗
DOE OSTI2025

Mass reconstruction of heavy neutral leptons from stopped mesons

Heavy neutral leptons (HNLs), depending on their mass and mixing, can be efficiently produced in meson decays from the target or absorber in short- to medium-baseline accelerator neutrino experiments, leaving detectable signals through their decays inside the neutrino detectors. We show that the currently running ICARUS experiment at Fermilab can reconstruct the HNL mass and explore new HNL parameter space in the mass range of 70–190 MeV. The mass reconstruction is enabled by two ingredients: (i) simple two-body kinematics of HNL production from stopped kaon decays at the NuMI absorber, followed by HNL decay into a charged-lepton pair and neutrino at the detector, and (ii) high resolution of Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC) detectors in reconstructing final state particles. Our mass reconstruction method is robust under realistic energy resolution and angular smearing of the charged leptons, and is applicable to any LArTPC detector. We also discuss the synergy between ICARUS and future facilities like DUNE near detector and PIP-II beam dump in probing the HNL parameter space. Published by the American Physical Society 2025

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
NASA NTRS2002

Progress Towards High-Sensitivity Arrays of Detectors of Sub-mm Radiation using Superconducting Tunnel Junctions with Radio-Frequency Single-Electron Transistors

The science drivers for the SPIRIT/SPECS missions demand sensitive, fast, compact, low-power, large-format detector arrays for high resolution imaging and spectroscopy in the far infrared and submillimeter. Detector arrays with 10,000 pixels and sensitivity less than 10(exp 20)-20 W/Hz(exp 20)0.5 are needed. Antenna-coupled superconducting tunnel junction detectors with integrated rf single-electron transistor readout amplifiers have the potential for achieving this high level of sensitivity, and can take advantage of an rf multiplexing technique when forming arrays. The device consists of an antenna structure to couple radiation into a small superconducting volume and cause quasiparticle excitations, and a single-electron transistor to measure currents through tunnel junction contacts to the absorber volume. We will describe optimization of device parameters, and recent results on fabrication techniques for producing devices with high yield for detector arrays. We will also present modeling of expected saturation power levels, antenna coupling, and rf multiplexing schemes.

Stevenson, T. R.↗
NASA NTRS2013

NASA Tech Briefs, August 2013

Topics covered include: Radial Internal Material Handling System (RIMS) for Circular Habitat Volumes; Conical Seat Shut-Off Valve; Impact-Actuated Digging Tool for Lunar Excavation; Flexible Mechanical Conveyors for Regolith Extraction and Transport; Remote Memory Access Protocol Target Node Intellectual Property; Soft Decision Analyzer; Distributed Prognostics and Health Management with a Wireless Network Architecture; Minimal Power Latch for Single-Slope ADCs; Bismuth Passivation Technique for High-Resolution X-Ray Detectors; High-Strength, Super-elastic Compounds; Cu-Cr-Nb-Zr Alloy for Rocket Engines and Other High-Heat- Flux Applications; Microgravity Storage Vessels and Conveying-Line Feeders for Cohesive Regolith; CRUQS: A Miniature Fine Sun Sensor for Nanosatellites; On-Chip Microfluidic Components for In Situ Analysis, Separation, and Detection of Amino Acids; Spectroscopic Determination of Trace Contaminants in High-Purity Oxygen; Method of Separating Oxygen From Spacecraft Cabin Air to Enable Extravehicular Activities; Atomic Force Microscope Mediated Chromatography; Sample Analysis at Mars Instrument Simulator; Access Control of Web- and Java-Based Applications; Tool for Automated Retrieval of Generic Event Tracks (TARGET); Bilayer Protograph Codes for Half-Duplex Relay Channels; Influence of Computational Drop Representation in LES of a Droplet-Laden Mixing Layer.

Source record↗
DOE OSTI2023

A novel integrated time-resolved array avalanche photodiode detection system for nuclear resonant scattering measurements

Here, the nuclear resonant scattering (NRS) experiment requires photon-counting detectors with high time resolution, short dead time, large dynamic range, low noise, and large detection area. An 8-channel avalanche photodiode (APD) array detector system with high integrity, flexibility, and reliability has been developed to adapt to the demands of NRS experiments. The detector system mainly consists of four key parts: (i) an array-APD sensor, (ii) 8-channel integrated fast preamplifiers, (iii) the time-to-digital converter readout electronics, and (iv) a data acquisition system and EPICS support software. Remarkably, the system exhibits a time resolution of better than 500 ps and has a sufficiently low noise level, allowing for the lowest detection energy threshold of 4 keV. The performance of the new array-APD system as well as its real application in nuclear forward scattering (NFS) and nuclear resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (NRIXS) experiments was tested in two synchrotron facilities. With the new system, the NFS signal very close to the prompt electronic scattering signal can be extracted. Thanks to the customized EPICS-areaDetector-based control software, NRIXS spectra can be readily measured with time and energy information of the NRIXS signal stored in the raw data, which is promising for developing NRIXS data analysis in the time domain. The array-APD detector can be deployed for nuclear resonant scattering experiments at various synchrotron radiation facilities.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
NASA NTRS1988

Advances toward high spectral resolution quantum X-ray calorimetry

Thermal detectors for X-ray spectroscopy combining high spectral resolution and quantum efficiency have been developed. These microcalorimeters measure the energy released in the absorption of a single photon by sensing the rise in temperature of a small absorbing structure. The ultimate energy resolution of such a device is limited by the thermodynamic power fluctuations in the thermal link between the calorimeter and isothermal bath and can in principle be made as low as 1 eV. The performance of a real device is degraded due to noise contributions such as excess 1/f noise in the thermistor and incomplete conversion of energy into phonons. The authors report some recent advances in thermometry, X-ray absorption and thermalization, fabrication techniques, and detector optimization in the presence of noise. These improvements have resulted in a device with a spectral resolution of 17 eV FWHM, measured at 6 keV.

Moseley, S. H.↗
DOE OSTI2020

CsPbBr3 perovskite detectors with 1.4% energy resolution for high-energy γ-rays

Halide perovskite semiconductors are poised to revitalize the field of ionizing radiation detection as they have done to solar photovoltaics. We show that all-inorganic perovskite CsPbBr 3 devices resolve 137 Cs 662-keV γ-rays with 1.4% energy resolution, as well as other X- and γ-rays with energies ranging from tens of keV to over 1 MeV in ambipolar sensing and unipolar hole-only sensing modes with crystal volumes of 6.65 mm 3 and 297 mm 3 , respectively. Furthermore, we report the scale-up of CsPbBr 3 ingots to up to 1.5 inches in diameter with an excellent hole mobility–lifetime product of 8 × 10 -3 cm 2 V -1 and a long hole lifetime of up to 296 μs. CsPbBr 3 detectors demonstrate a wide temperature region from ~2 °C to ~70 °C for stable operation. Detectors protected with suitable encapsulants show a uniform response for over 18 months. Consequently, we identify perovskite CsPbBr 3 semiconductor as an exceptional candidate for new-generation high-energy γ-ray detection.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
NASA NTRS2010

The Chandra X-Ray Observatory and its Role for the Study of Ionized Plasmas

NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory was launched in July of 1999. Featuring a 1000cm2-class X-ray telescope with sub-arcsecond angular resolution, the Observatory has observed targets from the solar system including the earth s moon, comets, and planets to the most distant galaxy clusters and active galactic nuclei. Capable of performing moderate energy resolution image-resolved spectroscopy using its CCD detectors, and high-resolution grating spectroscopy, the Observatory has produced, and continues to produce, valuable data and insights into the emission mechanisms of the ionized plasmas in which the X-rays originate. We present a brief overview of the Observatory to provide insight as to how to use it for your investigations. We also present an, admittedly brief and biased, overview of some of the results of investigations performed with Chandra that may be of interest to this audience.

Weisskopf, Martin C.↗
DOE OSTI2026

Monte Carlo simulation methodology for characterizing the energy response function and resolving power of a digital Flat Panel Detector (FPD) assembly

The use of high-resolution, digital flat panel detectors (FPDs) makes quantitative assessments of radiographic and 3D tomographic representations feasible. However, the energy response function and spatial resolving power of the detector must be known. Here, we present a methodology for characterizing an FPD assembly using Monte Carlo simulations. The detector assembly modeled here was fielded in the 3-Ring Flash X-ray Imaging System designed and built at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), which employs fifteen Carestream ® HPX-DR3543 FPDs enclosed in protective housings. Detailed Monte Carlo (MCNP6) simulations of an as-fielded detector assembly were performed to estimate its energy response function in terms of analog-to-digital unit (ADU) “counts” per pixel per incident x-ray as a function of energy up to ∼ 500 keV and its theoretical (idealized) resolving power. The practical resolving power of the FPD assembly in a realistic scenario was then estimated by simulating radiographic images of a variant of the United Kingdom (U.K.) “Kaleidoscope” resolution target.

Physics↗
DOE OSTI2023

Energy resolution of the LZ detector for high-energy electronic recoils

The LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) detector is a dual-phase liquid xenon time projection chamber (TPC) installed at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (Lead, South Dakota) at a depth of 1478 meters. Although the main objective of LZ is the direct detection of dark matter, its low background environment allows for the search of other rare processes, such as the neutrinoless double beta decay of xenon isotopes 134 Xe and 136 Xe with the respective Q-values of 826 keV and 2458 keV. The sensitivity of the detector to these decays is directly determined by the energy resolution, which, in turn, is degraded by non-uniformities in detector response. In this work, we present a novel method to correct, in the data, the non-uniformity of the light collected by an array of photosensors in a scintillation detector. This method is based on the knowledge of the light response functions of individual photosensors. With these techniques, we report, at a very early phase of the detector operations, a state-of-the-art energy resolution (σ/μ) of (0.67 ± 0.01)% at 2614 keV for the fiducial volume of 5.6 tonnes of liquid xenon.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2025

Design and Construction of a High-Resolution Hodoscope for the GlueX Experiment with High-Statistics Analysis of the p0, ¿, and ¿1 Photoproduction Cross Sections from the RadPhi Experiment

Differential cross sections for forward-angle photoproduction of p0, ¿, and ¿ 1 pseudoscalar mesons were measured using data from the RadPhi experiment conducted in Hall B at Jef ferson Lab. RadPhi utilized a tagged bremsstrahlung photon beam incident on a stationary 9Be target, with a detector system configured to trigger on a recoil proton in coincidence with multiple neutral showers in the calorimeter. Events were reconstructed and subjected to kinematic constraints, with background suppressed via sideband subtraction guided by Monte Carlo modeling of background contributions. Cross sections were extracted over the photon energy range 4.4– 5.4 GeV and binned in invariant momentum transfer t, providing measurements from one of the first high-statistics experiments of forward ¿ and ¿1 pro duction from a nuclear target at these energies. Acceptance corrections were applied using a detailed GEANT-based simulation of the detector geometry and response. The resulting cross sections are consistent with 2020 CLAS results, when scaled by the number of protons in beryllium, and show broad agreement with other data and theoretical models. In parallel, a high-resolution photon tagger detector, the Tagger Microscope (TAGM), was designed, constructed, and commissioned for the GlueX experiment in Hall D at Jefferson Lab. The TAGM was developed to provide high-rate tagging capability in the coherent bremsstrahlung peak by detecting post-bremsstrahlung electrons across a one GeV range along the focal plane of the tagging spectrometer. The detector consists of a 5ˆ102 array of 2ˆ2 mm2 square BCF-20 plastic scintillating fibers thermally fused to BCF-98 light guide fibers optically coupled to silicon photomultipliers. These fibers are mounted in a precision machined framework enabling fine positional adjustments to maintain precise alignment with post-bremsstrahlung electron trajectories, while ensuring mechanical rigidity, thermal stability, optical isolation, minimal inactive area, and radiation shielding for electronics. The construction effort involved extensive testing of fiber quality, light transmission, thermal fusing, radiation hardness, and defect analysis using SEM and EDX techniques. Following its installation and commissioning, the TAGM became a critical component of the GlueX beamline, enabling high-rate tagging essential for studies of hybrid mesons and gluonic ex citations.

McIntyre, James [Univ. of Connecticut, Storrs, CT ↗
DOE OSTI2022

Signal formation and sharing in AC-LGADs using the ALTIROC 0 front-end chip

The development of detectors that provide high resolution in four dimensions has attracted wide-spread interest in the scientific community for applications in high-energy physics, nuclear physics, medical imaging, mass spectroscopy as well as quantum information. However, finding a technology capable of fulfilling such aspiration proved to be an arduous task. Among other silicon-based candidates, the Low-Gain Avalanche Diode (LGAD) has already shown excellent timing performances but proved to be unsuitable for fine pixelization. Therefore, the AC-coupled LGAD (AC-LGAD) approach was introduced to provide high resolution in both time and space, making it a promising candidate for future 4D detectors. However, appropriate readout electronics must be developed to match the sensor's fast-time and fine-pitch capabilities. This is currently a major technological challenge. Here, we test AC-LGAD prototypes read out by the fast-time ASIC ALTIROC 0, originally developed for the readout of DC-coupled LGADs for the ATLAS experiment at the High Luminosity-LHC. Signal generated by either betas from a 90 Sr source or a focused infra-red laser were analyzed. This paper details the first successful readout of an AC-LGAD sensor using a readout chip. This result will pave the way for the design and construction of a new generation of AC-LGAD-based 4D detectors.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
NASA NTRS1984

Experimental tests of a single-photon calorimeter for X-ray spectroscopy

Tests have been made of a nondispersive spectroscopic X-ray detector which operates by measuring the temperature rise following absorption of a single photon. Thermal pulses from 6-keV X-rays have been observed, and the different amplitudes resulting from Mn K-alpha and K-beta events have been resolved. This device was assembled to make quantitative tests of theoretical calculations of the properties of such detectors, and its high heat capacity does not allow it to attain the very high resolution predicted for detectors made by more sophisticated, but still straightforward, techniques. Both the measured resolution of 270-eV full width at half maximum and the absolute amplitude of the response are consistent with predictions. Nonthermal effects in the thermistor limit the precision of this comparison to about 30 percent.

Mccammon, D.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Impact of selenium addition to the cadmium-zinc-telluride matrix for producing high energy resolution X-and gamma-ray detectors

Abstract Both material quality and detector performance have been steadily improving over the past few years for the leading room temperature radiation detector material cadmium-zinc-telluride (CdZnTe). However, although tremendous progress being made, CdZnTe still suffers from high concentrations of performance-limiting defects, such as Te inclusions, networks of sub-grain boundaries and compositional inhomogeneity due to the higher segregation coefficient of Zn. Adding as low as 2% (atomic) Se into CdZnTe matrix was found to successfully mitigate many performance-limiting defects and provide improved compositional homogeneity. Here we report record-high performance of Virtual Frisch Grid (VFG) detector fabricated from as-grown Cd 0.9 Zn 0.1 Te 0.98 Se 0.02 ingot grown by the Traveling Heater Method (THM). Benefiting from superior material quality, we achieved superb energy resolution of 0.77% at 662 keV (as-measured without charge-loss correction algorithms) registered at room temperature. The absence of residual thermal stress in the detector was revealed from white beam X-ray topographic images, which was also confirmed by Infra-Red (IR) transmission imaging under cross polarizers. Furthermore, neither sub-grain boundaries nor their networks were observed from the X-ray topographic image. However, large concentrations of extrinsic impurities were revealed in as-grown materials, suggesting a high likelihood for further reduction in the energy resolution after improved purification of the starting material.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗