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At least 19 records

Resistive anode image converter

The invention of an apparatus for imaging soft X-ray and ultraviolet electromagnetic radiation and charged particles was described. The apparatus includes a pair of microchannel electron multiplier plates connected in a cascaded chevron configuration which intercepts an incident beam of radiation or charged particles. Incident photons or charged particles strike the front surface of the chevron configuration causing emission of electrons. The electrons are accelerated by a voltage gradient and strike the inner side walls of the individual channels, causing emission of secondary electrons. Accelerated and multiplied secondary electrons impinge upon a resistive anode after they transverse the chevron configuration. A pulse position circuit converts the magnitude or transit time of the currents flowing from the point of impact of the electrons on the resistive anode to four contact electrodes mounted on their periphery of the resistive anode into the spatial coordinates of electron impact.

Lampton, M. L.

Low-distortion resistive anodes for two-dimensional position-sensitive MCP systems

Microchannel plates (MCPs) are frequently used with resistive anodes to detect charged particles or photons and yield analog signals from which event positions can be decoded. The paper discusses a four-corner concave circular arc terminated resistive anode that permits theoretically distortionless encoding of Cartesian event positions into pulse charge ratios. The theory of the circular arc terminated anode is discussed along with anode design and performance. Electron beam images obtained by using such an anode are presented to confirm the usefulness of the approach.

Lampton, M.

High-resolution imaging with a two-dimensional resistive anode photon counter

A method to achieve high spatial resolution readout of individual photoelectron events using microchannel plates and a resistive anode is presented. A clamped pair of microchannel plates is used, followed by a gap and a clamped triplet of microchannel plates in cascade to achieve a high stable electron gain of 3 x 10 to the 7th. The gain allows the position determination of each photoelectron event with a very high signal-to-noise ratio. A model consisting of a windowless vacuum-ultraviolet image sensor is presented to demonstrate 500 x 500 pixel images of 50 micron FWHM over a 25-mm circular field of view. The detector offers sufficient speed, sensitivity and resolution for a variety of applications, and the mount design is compatible with planar, remotely-processed, proximity-focused photocathodes.

Firmani, C.

The Ranicon - A resistive anode image converter

A versatile photon and charged particle imaging system is described. The Ranicon employs a microchannel electron multiplier plate to convert each detected event into a charge signal. This charge pulse is proximity-focused onto a large-area resistive anode plate equipped with pickup electrodes on its edges. Each event is located electronically by the ratios of the charges collected at the edges or by the differences of the signals' risetimes. One- or two-dimensional pictures are built up by storing events digitally (e.g., a core memory) or in analog form (e.g., a storage oscilloscope). Compact laboratory models have been constructed and tested. Operating characteristics, applications, limitations, and advantages of the Ranicon are discussed.

Lampton, M.

Anion-Intercalating Cathodes for High-Energy-Density Cells

A report discusses physicochemical issues affecting a fluoride-intercalating cathode that operates in conjunction with a lithium ion-intercalating anode in a rechargeable electrochemical cell described in a cited prior report. The instant report also discusses corresponding innovations made in solvent and electrolyte compositions since the prior report. The advantages of this cell, relative to other lithium-ion-based cells, are said to be greater potential (5 V vs. 4 V), and greater theoretical cathode specific capacity (0.9 to 2.2 A-h/g vs. about 0.18 A-h/g). The discussion addresses a need for the solvent to be unreactive toward the lithium anode and to resist anodic oxidation at potentials greater than about 4.5 V vs. lithium; the pertinent innovation is the selection of propylene carbonate (PC) as a solvent having significantly more stability, relative to other solvents that have been tried. The discussion also addresses the need for an electrolyte additive, denoted an anion receptor, to complex the fluoride ion; the pertinent innovation is the selection of tris(hexafluoroisopropyl) borate as a superior alternative to the prior anion receptor, which was tris(pentafluorophenyl) borate.

West, William

Hybrid analog/digital, large format, photon counting detectors for astronomy

The development of a new microchannel plate photon-counting detector with an analog readout method based on a resistive anode is reported. This detector exhibits extremely high, stable electron gains of 10 to the 8th. At this gain, the spatial resolution is no longer primarily limited by the noise of the resistive anode, so that digital methods of readout, such as discrete conductors, lose their advantage. These detectors can be readily scaled to 40 mm and 70 mm formats to match plate scales of 2-m (and larger) telescopes. New, high speed digital electronics fully exploit the high spatial and time resolution made possible by gains of this level. Analysis of the theoretical performance of this detector shows that the major limitation to the spatial resolution is the proximity focus of the photocathode and the first microchannel plate. The detector has been mated to an echelle spectrograph developed.

Crocker, J.

A Dendrite-Resistant Sodium/Porous-Carbon Anode for Solid-State Batteries – Strategies and Challenges for Low-Pressure Operation

Sodium solid-state batteries (Na-SSB) have gained interest recently due to the abundance of Na over Li, but they still tend to fail due to dendrites under practical current densities and cycling capacities. To overcome this, Na-SSBs are frequently tested with impractically high applied pressure. In this work, a porous carbon interfacial layer is utilized in conjunction with Na-ß”-Al2O3 solid electrolytes to enable Na-cycling at milder cell pressures. This sodium/porous carbon layer enables improved solid-state Na cycling in symmetric cells, up to a current density of 10 mA cm-2 at 25 °C. Cycling up to 1 mAh cm-2 is challenging with low pressure, but 1 mAh cm-2 capacity can be reliably cycled at 1 mA cm-2 at an elevated temperature of 60 °C in symmetric cells. Finally, the evolution of the interface and sodium/carbon anode is evaluated with cryogenic ion-milling and cross-sectional imaging revealing that, depending on testing temperature, pressure, current density, and capacity, void formation, Na-extraction from porous carbon, delamination of the porous carbon matrix, or a combination of these occurs at the interface between Na-metal and BASE. Despite this, excellent dendrite resistance is achieved, and a full-cell design utilizing a Na-transition metal oxide cathode is still able to achieve an areal capacity of ~ 2.7 mAh cm-2 at 0.125 mA cm-2. This work demonstrates an alternative pathway toward a Na-metal anode for Na-SSBs without the requirement of excessive stack pressure.

low-cost

Delay line anodes for microchannel-plate spectrometers

A photon-counting readout system for microchannel-plate spectrometers is described that uses a delay line and timing circuit for the wavelength coordinate and a wedge-wedge charge division system for the orthogonal spatial coordinate. A novel zigzag layout allows these two anode patterns to coexist on a common planar substrate and share the charge from each photoevent, thereby simultaneously localizing the photon in each of its two dimensions. Unlike wedge-and-strip or resistive anode encoders, the delay line offers a spatial resolution that is relatively independent of the format length. Unlike discrete anode systems, the delay line readout system's complexity is also independent of the field of view size. These facts make the delay line readout system advantageous in large format detectors. A testbed detector having a delay line propagation speed of 2.2 mm/ns and a time resolution of 33 ps FWHM has been assembled. Ultraviolet testing shows a Gaussian event distribution having a 70-micron FWHM width; the readout system blur contribution is less than 50-micron FWHM.

Lampton, M.

Photon counting detectors for Fabry-Perot interferometers

Sealed channel plate photomultipliers with multiple discrete anodes for use as photon counting detectors in the image plane of Fabry-Perot interferometers are described. The influence of design and construction on performance of completed devices is discussed. Effects on spatial resolution, lifetime, and counting efficiency are described. It is shown that devices can be optimized for particular applications. The results should be generally applicable to resistive anode and wedge and strip anode types of sealed detectors.

Darlington, E. H.

Time projection chamber for GADGET II

The established Gaseous Detector with Germanium Tagging (GADGET) detection system is used to measure weak, low-energy 𝛽-delayed proton decays. It consists of the Gaseous Proton Detector equipped with a MICROMEGAS (MM) readout to detect protons and other charged particles calorimetrically, surrounded by the Segmented Germanium Array (SeGA) for high-resolution detection of prompt 𝛾 rays. To upgrade GADGET's Proton Detector to operate as a compact time projection chamber (TPC) for the detection, three-dimensional imaging and identification of low-energy 𝛽-delayed single- and multiparticle emissions mainly of interest to astrophysical studies. A new high granularity MM board with 1024 pads has been designed, fabricated, installed, and tested. A high-density data acquisition system based on generic electronics for TPCs (GET) has been installed and optimized to record and process the gas avalanche signals collected on the readout pads. The TPC's performance has been tested using a 220 Rn 𝛼-particle source and cosmic-ray muons. In addition, decay events in the TPC have been simulated by adapting the attpcroot data analysis framework. Furthermore, a novel application of two-dimensional convolutional neural networks for GADGET II event classification is introduced. The optimization of data throughput is also addressed. The GADGET II TPC is capable of detecting and identifying 𝛼 particles as well as measuring their track direction, range, and energy. The extracted energy resolution of the GADGET II TPC using P10 gas is about 5.4% at 6.288 MeV ( 220 Rn 𝛼 events), computed using charge integration. Based on a systematic simulation study, we estimated the detection efficiency of the GADGET II TPC for protons and 𝛼 particles, respectively. It has also been demonstrated that the GADGET II TPC is capable of tracking minimum-ionizing particles (i.e., cosmic-ray muons). From these measurements, the electron drift velocity was measured under typical operating conditions. In addition to being one of the first generation of micropattern gaseous detectors (MPGDs) to utilize a resistive anode applied to low-energy nuclear physics, the GADGET II TPC will also be the first TPC surrounded by a high-efficiency array of high-purity germanium 𝛾-ray detectors. As a result, the TPC of GADGET II has been designed, fabricated, and tested and is ready for operation at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams for radioactive-beam-line experiments.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS

Electrolytic pretreatment of urine

Electrolysis has been under evaluation for several years as a process to pretreat urine for ultimate recovery of potable water in manned spacecraft applications. The conclusions that were drawn from this investigation are the following: (1) A platinum alloy containing 10 percent rhodium has been shown to be an effective, corrosion-resistant anode material for the electrolytic pretreatment of urine. Black platinum has been found to be suitable as a cathode material. (2) The mechanism of the reactions occurring during the electrolysis of urine is two-stage: (a) a total Kjeldahl nitrogen and total organic carbon (TOC) removal in the first stage is the result of electrochemical oxidation of urea to CO2, H2O, and ammonia followed by chloride interaction to produce N2 from ammonia, (b) after the urea has been essentially removed and the chloride ions have no more ammonia to interact with, the chloride ions start to oxidize to higher valence states, thus producing perchlorates. (3) Formation of perchlorates can be suppressed by high/low current operation, elevated temperature, and pH adjustment. (4) UV-radiation showed promise in assisting electrolytic TOC removal in beaker tests, but was not substantiated in limited single cell testing. This may have been due to non-optimum configurations of the single cell test rig and the light source.

Source record

Two-dimensional ultraviolet imagery with a microchannel-plate/resistive-anode detector

An imaging ultraviolet detector has been designed for use with a precision pointed telescope flown on a sounding rocket. Resolution of better than 80 microns over a field of 5 mm has been achieved. The ultraviolet image is converted to electrons at the front surface of a CsI coated chevron microchannel-plate electron multiplier. For each photoelectron, the multiplier produces a burst of about 3,000,000 electrons, which impinges on a tellurium-coated resistive anode with four evaporated hyperbolic readout electrodes. The sizes of the four resulting output pulses are digitized to 10 bit accuracy and telemetered to the ground, where they are divided in pairs to give the x and y coordinates of the photoelectron event. The coordinates are used to generate a picture in real time, and are recorded for computer processing later. The detector was successfully flown in December 1978. Good images of Jupiter and Capella in hydrogen Lyman alpha emission were obtained.

Opal, C. B.

Development of a fast ion mass spectrometer for space research

An ion mass spectrometer having a cylindrical E bar x B bar analyzer and either a cylindrical or spherical electrostatic analyzer is described. The instrument has two nested channels and a postacceleration between the electrostatic and E bar x B bar analyzers for wide ranges of energy and mass responses. It is noted that the dual-channel construction not only doubles the data acquisition rate but also permits a reversal of the electrostatic field orientation in the inner channel for lighter ions. The outer channel is then optimized for ions of medium to high mass numbers, resulting in increased mass resolution for such heavy ions. When combined with a cylindrical E bar x B bar analyzer, a 90-deg-deflection angle spherical electrostatic analyzer provides an extremely wide viewing angle. The angular distribution of ions can be derived from such geometry if a position-sensitive resistive anode or a detector array is used at the exit aperture. Details on the principles of operation, the instrument design, and calibration are presented.

Hahn, S. F.

An instrument for rapidly measuring plasma distribution functions with high resolution

An instrument which can rapidly measure plasma particle distribution functions has been developed based upon recent innovations in electrostatic analyzer design and position sensitive particle detection. The new analyzer uses a quadrispherical geometry, but has a completely uniform 360 deg fan-shaped field of view. The polar angular distribution of entering particles is spatially imaged onto a position sensitive detector at the annular exit aperture after a deflection through 90 deg. Several methods of position sensitive detection have been successfully used in conjunction with this analyzer. The simplest is individual channel multipliers spaced around the annular exit. Microchannel plate electron multipliers permit greater position resolution to be obtained, and a detector using microchannel plates followed by a resistive anode image converter obtains angular resolution of about one degree, i.e., 360 individual angle pixels. Instruments of this type were flown on a sounding rocket in early 1982 and will be included on the Giotto comet mission and the AMPTE ion release module (IRM).

Carlson, C. W.

An extreme ultraviolet spectrometer experiment for the Shuttle Get Away Special Program

An extreme ultraviolet (EUV) spectrometer experiment operated successfully during the STS-7 mission in an experiment to measure the global and diurnal variation of the EUV airglow. The spectrometer is an F 3.5 Wadsworth mount with mechanical collimator, a 75 x 75 mm grating, and a bare microchannel plate detector providing a spectral resolution of 7 X FWHM. Read-out of the signal is through discrete channels or resistive anode techniques. The experiment includes a microcomputer, 20 Mbit tape recorder, and a 28V, 40 Ahr silver-zinc battery. It is the first GAS payload to use an opening door. The spectrometer's 0.1 x 4.2 deg field of view is pointed vertically out of the shuttle bay. During the STS-7 flight data were acquired continuously for a period of 5 hours and 37 minutes, providing spectra of the 570 A to 850 A wavelength region of the airglow. Five diurnal cycles of the 584 A emission of neutral helium and the 834 A emission of ionized atomic oxygen were recorded. The experiment also recorded ion events and pressure pulses associated with thruster firings. The experiment is to fly again on Mission 41-F.

Conway, R. R.

High-spatial resolution and high-spectral resolution detector for use in the measurement of solar flare hard X-rays

In the areas of high spatial resolution, the evaluation of a hard X-ray detector with 65 micron spatial resolution for operation in the energy range from 30 to 400 keV is proposed. The basic detector is a thick large-area scintillator faceplate, composed of a matrix of high-density scintillating glass fibers, attached to a proximity type image intensifier tube with a resistive-anode digital readout system. Such a detector, combined with a coded-aperture mask, would be ideal for use as a modest-sized hard X-ray imaging instrument up to X-ray energies as high as several hundred keV. As an integral part of this study it was also proposed that several techniques be critically evaluated for X-ray image coding which could be used with this detector. In the area of high spectral resolution, it is proposed to evaluate two different types of detectors for use as X-ray spectrometers for solar flares: planar silicon detectors and high-purity germanium detectors (HPGe). Instruments utilizing these high-spatial-resolution detectors for hard X-ray imaging measurements from 30 to 400 keV and high-spectral-resolution detectors for measurements over a similar energy range would be ideally suited for making crucial solar flare observations during the upcoming maximum in the solar cycle.

Desai, U. D.

The Extreme Ultraviolet Spectrograph Sounding Rocket Payload: Recent Modifications for Planetary Observations in the EUV/FUV

We report on the status of modifications to an existing extreme ultraviolet (EUV) telescope/spectrograph sounding rocket payload for planetary observations in the 800 - 1200 A wavelength band. The instrument is composed of an existing Wolter Type 2 grazing incidence telescope, a newly built 0.4-m normal incidence Rowland Circle spectrograph, and an open-structure resistive-anode microchannel plate detector. The modified payload has successfully completed three NASA sounding rocket flights within 1994-1995. Future flights are anticipated for additional studies of planetary and cometary atmospheres and interstellar absorption. A detailed description of the payload, along with the performance characteristics of the integrated instrument are presented. In addition, some preliminary flight results from the above three missions are also presented.

Slater, David C.

The sPHENIX Micromegas Outer Tracker

The sPHENIX Time Projection Chamber Outer Tracker (TPOT) is a Micromegas based detector. It is a part of the sPHENIX experiment that aims to facilitate the calibration of the Time Projection Chamber, in particular the correction of the time-averaged and beam-induced distortions of the electron drift. Here, this paper describes the detector mission, setup, construction, installation, commissioning and performance during the first year of sPHENIX data taking.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION