Gomez-Cadenas, J. J., Benlloch-Rodriguez, J. M., & Ferrario, P. (2017). Monte Carlo study of the coincidence resolving time of a liquid xenon PET scanner, using Cherenkov radiation. J. Instrum., 12, P08023–13pp.
Abstract: In this paper we use detailed Monte Carlo simulations to demonstrate that liquid xenon (LXe) can be used to build a Cherenkov-based TOF-PET, with an intrinsic coincidence resolving time (CRT) in the vicinity of 10 ps. This extraordinary performance is due to three facts: a) the abundant emission of Cherenkov photons by liquid xenon; b) the fact that LXe is transparent to Cherenkov light; and c) the fact that the fastest photons in LXe have wavelengths higher than 300 nm, therefore making it possible to separate the detection of scintillation and Cherenkov light. The CRT in a Cherenkov LXe TOF-PET detector is, therefore, dominated by the resolution (time jitter) introduced by the photosensors and the electronics. However, we show that for sufficiently fast photosensors (e.g, an overall 40 ps jitter, which can be achieved by current micro-channel plate photomultipliers) the overall CRT varies between 30 and 55 ps, depending on the detection efficiency. This is still one order of magnitude better than commercial CRT devices and improves by a factor 3 the best CRT obtained with small laboratory prototypes.
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Azevedo, C. D. R., Baeza, A., Chauveau, E., Corbacho, J. A., Diaz, J., Domange, J., et al. (2023). Development of a real-time tritium-in-water monitor. J. Instrum., 18(12), T12008–14pp.
Abstract: In this paper, we report the development and performance of a detector module envisaging a tritium-in-water real-time activity monitor. The monitor is based on modular detection units whose number can be chosen according to the required sensitivity. The full system is being designed to achieve a Minimum Detectable Activity (MDA) of 100 Bq/L of tritium-in-water activity which is the limit established by the E.U. Council Directive 2013/51/Euratom for water intended for human consumption. The same system can be used as a real-time pre-alert system for nuclear power plant regarding tritium-in water environmental surveillance. The first detector module was characterized, commissioned and installed immediately after the discharge channel of the Arrocampo dam (Almaraz nuclear power plant, Spain) on the Tagus river. Due to the high sensitivity of the single detection modules, the system requires radioactive background mitigation techniques through the use of active and passive shielding. We have extrapolated a MDA of 3.6 kBq/L for a single module being this value limited by the cosmic background. The obtained value for a single module is already compatible with a real-time environmental surveillance and pre-alert system. Further optimization of the single-module sensitivity will imply the reduction of the number of modules and the cost of the detector system.
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Lauritsen, T. et al, & Perez-Vidal, R. M. (2016). Characterization of a gamma-ray tracking array: A comparison of GRETINA and Gammasphere using a Co-60 source. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 836, 46–56.
Abstract: In this paper; we provide a formalism for the characterization of tracking arrays with emphasis on the proper corrections required to extract their photopeak efficiencies and peak-to-total ratios. The methods are first applied to Gammasphere, a well characterized 4 pi array based on the principle of Compton suppression, and subsequently to GRETINA. The tracking efficiencies are then discussed and some guidelines as to what clustering angle to use in the tracking algorithm are presented. It was possible, using GEANT4 simulations, to scale the measured efficiencies up to the expected values for the full 4 pi implementation of GRETA.
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NEXT Collaboration(Alvarez, V. et al), Carcel, S., Cervera-Villanueva, A., Diaz, J., Ferrario, P., Gil, A., et al. (2012). NEXT-100 Technical Design Report (TDR). Executive summary. J. Instrum., 7, T06001–34pp.
Abstract: In this Technical Design Report (TDR) we describe the NEXT-100 detector that will search for neutrinoless double beta decay (beta beta 0v) in Xe-136 at the Laboratorio Subterraneo de Canfranc (LSC), in Spain. The document formalizes the design presented in our Conceptual Design Report (CDR): an electroluminescence time projection chamber, with separate readout planes for calorimetry and tracking, located, respectively, behind cathode and anode. The detector is designed to hold a maximum of about 150 kg of xenon at 15 bar, or 100 kg at 10 bar. This option builds in the capability to increase the total isotope mass by 50% while keeping the operating pressure at a manageable level. The readout plane performing the energy measurement is composed of Hamamatsu R11410-10 photomultipliers, specially designed for operation in low-background, xenon-based detectors. Each individual PMT will be isolated from the gas by an individual, pressure resistant enclosure and will be coupled to the sensitive volume through a sapphire window. The tracking plane consists in an array of Hamamatsu S10362-11-050P MPPCs used as tracking pixels. They will be arranged in square boards holding 64 sensors (8 x 8) with a 1-cm pitch. The inner walls of the TPC, the sapphire windows and the boards holding the MPPCs will be coated with tetraphenyl butadiene (TPB), a wavelength shifter, to improve the light collection.
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Magan, D. L. P., Caballero, L., Domingo-Pardo, C., Agramunt-Ros, J., Albiol, F., Casanovas, A., et al. (2016). First tests of the applicability of gamma-ray imaging for background discrimination in time-of-flight neutron capture measurements. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A, 823, 107–119.
Abstract: In this work we explore for the first time the applicability of using gamma-ray imaging in neutron capture measurements to identify and suppress spatially localized background. For this aim, a pinhole gamma camera is assembled, tested and characterized in terms of energy and spatial performance. It consists of a monolithic CeBr3 scintillating crystal coupled to a position-sensitive photomultiplier and readout through an integrated circuit AMIC2GR. The pinhole collimator is a massive carven block of lead. A series of dedicated measurements with calibrated sources and with a neutron beam incident on a Au-197 sample have been carried out at n_TOF, achieving an enhancement of a factor of two in the signal-to-background ratio when selecting only those events coming from the direction of the sample.
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