Novel imaging technique for thermal neutrons using a fast optical camera

Tianqi Gao; Gabriele D'Amen; Sergey Burdin; Mohammad Alsulimane; Paul Campbell; Cinzia Da Via; Andrei Nomerotski; Adam Roberts; Peter Svihra; Konstantinos Mavrokoridis; Jon Taylor; Alessandro Tricoli

doi:10.1016/j.nima.2022.167604

Novel imaging technique for thermal neutrons using a fast optical camera

Tianqi Gao
, Gabriele D'Amen
, Sergey Burdin
, Mohammad Alsulimane
, Paul Campbell
, Cinzia Da Via
, Andrei Nomerotski
, Adam Roberts
, Peter Svihra
, Konstantinos Mavrokoridis
, Jon Taylor
, Alessandro Tricoli

Physics and Astronomy

Stony Brook University

University of Manchester
Brookhaven National Laboratory
University of Liverpool
CERN

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

A novel imaging technique for thermal neutrons using a fast optical camera is presented. Thermal neutrons are reacted with ⁶Lithium to produce a pair of 2.73 MeV tritium and 2.05 MeV alpha particles, which in turn interact in a thin layer of LYSO crystal scintillator to produce a localized flash of light. These photons are directed by a pair of lenses to a micro-channel plate intensifier, and its output is connected to the optical camera, TPX3CAM. The results from the camera are reconstructed through a custom algorithm. Various cutting parameters were found through data analysis to eliminate the background, and they were shown effective in matching the simulated rate of the neutron source. The system is fast with 40 ns decay time and allows free-space light collection, both vastly enhances flexibility of neutron detection.

Original language	English
Article number	167604
Journal	Nuclear Inst. and Methods in Physics Research, A
Volume	1046
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2022.167604
State	Published - Jan 11 2023

Keywords

Neutron gamma discrimination
Particle identification methods
Photon detectors
Visible and IR photons (solid-state)

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10.1016/j.nima.2022.167604

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title = "Novel imaging technique for thermal neutrons using a fast optical camera",

abstract = "A novel imaging technique for thermal neutrons using a fast optical camera is presented. Thermal neutrons are reacted with 6Lithium to produce a pair of 2.73 MeV tritium and 2.05 MeV alpha particles, which in turn interact in a thin layer of LYSO crystal scintillator to produce a localized flash of light. These photons are directed by a pair of lenses to a micro-channel plate intensifier, and its output is connected to the optical camera, TPX3CAM. The results from the camera are reconstructed through a custom algorithm. Various cutting parameters were found through data analysis to eliminate the background, and they were shown effective in matching the simulated rate of the neutron source. The system is fast with 40 ns decay time and allows free-space light collection, both vastly enhances flexibility of neutron detection.",

keywords = "Neutron gamma discrimination, Particle identification methods, Photon detectors, Visible and IR photons (solid-state)",

author = "Tianqi Gao and Gabriele D'Amen and Sergey Burdin and Mohammad Alsulimane and Paul Campbell and \{Da Via\}, Cinzia and Andrei Nomerotski and Adam Roberts and Peter Svihra and Konstantinos Mavrokoridis and Jon Taylor and Alessandro Tricoli",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 The Author(s)",

year = "2023",

month = jan,

day = "11",

doi = "10.1016/j.nima.2022.167604",

language = "English",

volume = "1046",

journal = "Nuclear Inst. and Methods in Physics Research, A",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Novel imaging technique for thermal neutrons using a fast optical camera

AU - Gao, Tianqi

AU - D'Amen, Gabriele

AU - Burdin, Sergey

AU - Alsulimane, Mohammad

AU - Campbell, Paul

AU - Da Via, Cinzia

AU - Nomerotski, Andrei

AU - Roberts, Adam

AU - Svihra, Peter

AU - Mavrokoridis, Konstantinos

AU - Taylor, Jon

AU - Tricoli, Alessandro

PY - 2023/1/11

Y1 - 2023/1/11

N2 - A novel imaging technique for thermal neutrons using a fast optical camera is presented. Thermal neutrons are reacted with 6Lithium to produce a pair of 2.73 MeV tritium and 2.05 MeV alpha particles, which in turn interact in a thin layer of LYSO crystal scintillator to produce a localized flash of light. These photons are directed by a pair of lenses to a micro-channel plate intensifier, and its output is connected to the optical camera, TPX3CAM. The results from the camera are reconstructed through a custom algorithm. Various cutting parameters were found through data analysis to eliminate the background, and they were shown effective in matching the simulated rate of the neutron source. The system is fast with 40 ns decay time and allows free-space light collection, both vastly enhances flexibility of neutron detection.

AB - A novel imaging technique for thermal neutrons using a fast optical camera is presented. Thermal neutrons are reacted with 6Lithium to produce a pair of 2.73 MeV tritium and 2.05 MeV alpha particles, which in turn interact in a thin layer of LYSO crystal scintillator to produce a localized flash of light. These photons are directed by a pair of lenses to a micro-channel plate intensifier, and its output is connected to the optical camera, TPX3CAM. The results from the camera are reconstructed through a custom algorithm. Various cutting parameters were found through data analysis to eliminate the background, and they were shown effective in matching the simulated rate of the neutron source. The system is fast with 40 ns decay time and allows free-space light collection, both vastly enhances flexibility of neutron detection.

KW - Neutron gamma discrimination

KW - Particle identification methods

KW - Photon detectors

KW - Visible and IR photons (solid-state)

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85142315692

U2 - 10.1016/j.nima.2022.167604

DO - 10.1016/j.nima.2022.167604

M3 - Article

SN - 0168-9002

VL - 1046

JO - Nuclear Inst. and Methods in Physics Research, A

JF - Nuclear Inst. and Methods in Physics Research, A

M1 - 167604

ER -

Novel imaging technique for thermal neutrons using a fast optical camera

Abstract

Keywords

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