Capillary arrays, methods of making and uses thereof

Abstract

The present application relates to a capillary array, its manufacturing method, and use. The capillary array includes a plurality of parallel-axially arranged capillaries made of a first glass, each of which has an inner wall provided with a low-refractive-index layer whose refractive index is lower than that of a liquid scintillator, and a light-absorbing layer made of a second glass between any two adjacent capillaries. The capillary array includes a capillary region in which T1 - T2 is 30 to 50°C, where T1 is the softening point of the first glass and T2 is the softening point of the second glass, and the thermal expansion coefficient of the first glass is α1. The capillary region is made of a third glass, which is disposed outside the capillary region and in contact with the outer surface of the capillary region, and has a softening point of T3, where T2 - T3 is 50 to 100°C, and the thermal expansion coefficient of the third glass is α3, where α1 - α3 is 2×10. -7 ~10×10 -7 / °C. The technical problem to be solved by the present application is to manufacture a capillary array such that a liquid scintillator optical fiber panel manufactured using the capillary array has high spatial resolution, high hole diameter uniformity, high numerical aperture, and high coupling efficiency, and the manufacturing process is simple.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] [CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS] This application claims priority to a Chinese patent application bearing application number 202311482047.1 and entitled "Capillary Array, Manufacturing Method and Use Thereof," filed with the China Patent Office on November 9, 2023, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

[0002] [Technical field] This application is in the field of fast neutron detection devices, and in particular relates to capillary arrays, their manufacturing methods, and uses. [Background technology]

[0003] A liquid scintillator fiber optic panel is a capillary array filled with liquid scintillator. Its detection principle is as follows: fast neutrons collide with hydrogen nuclei in the liquid scintillator, exciting it to emit visible fluorescence. Part of the visible fluorescence is totally reflected by the inner wall of the capillary and transmitted from the exit end of the liquid scintillator fiber optic panel, where it is received by a photosensitive element such as a CCD or CMOS, thereby enabling detection of fast neutrons.

[0004] The conventional method for manufacturing a liquid scintillator fiber optic panel is as follows: a low-refractive index glass tube is drawn into capillary monofilaments, which are then arranged into hexagonal multifilament rods and drawn into capillary multifilaments, each containing multiple capillary fibers. The multifilaments are then cut into capillary fiber bundles and heated to fuse them together to form a billet. Finally, both ends of the billet are cut flat, the capillaries are filled with liquid scintillator, and both ends are covered with lenses or fiber optic panels for packaging.

[0005] However, current liquid scintillator fiber optic panels have several problems. First, when arranging the panels, absorbing filaments are inserted between adjacent capillaries to reduce optical crosstalk between them. However, some light still passes through the capillaries, resulting in crosstalk and reduced spatial resolution. Second, the refractive index of liquid scintillators is relatively low, typically between 1.5 and 1.8. To ensure image transmission over optical fibers, the refractive index of the capillaries must be lower than that of the liquid scintillator. However, there are few glasses with a refractive index lower than that of liquid scintillators. Although the refractive index of silica glass is 1.46, its high softening point makes it difficult to find a suitable outer wall absorbing filament to address the optical crosstalk problem between capillaries. Fluoride glass has a low refractive index, and while it can reach a refractive index below 1.4, it cannot be used for capillary stretching due to its poor fiber-forming properties and tendency to crystallize at high temperatures. Therefore, only glass with a relatively high refractive index can be used for the capillary glass, but the difference between the refractive index of the liquid scintillator and that of the capillary is small, so the numerical aperture of the liquid scintillator optical fiber panel is low. Thirdly, capillaries are usually circular, and the pixels of the photosensitive elements such as CCD and CMOS connected to the exit end are all rectangular. There is no one-to-one correspondence between the liquid scintillator fiber panel and the pixels of the CCD or CMOS element, so the coupling efficiency is low. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] The main purpose of this application is to provide a capillary array, its manufacturing method, and its use. The technical problem to be solved is to manufacture a capillary array so that the liquid scintillator optical fiber panel manufactured with the capillary array has high spatial resolution, high hole diameter uniformity, high numerical aperture, and high coupling efficiency, and the manufacturing process is simple and more suitable for practical use.

[0007] The objectives of the present application and the solution of its technical problems are realized by adopting the following technical solutions: The capillary array proposed in the present application comprises: a capillary region including a plurality of capillaries made of a first glass arranged with their axes parallel to one another, each capillary having an inner wall provided with a low refractive index layer having a refractive index lower than that of the liquid scintillator, and between any two adjacent capillaries a light absorbing layer made of a second glass is provided, wherein, when the softening point of the first glass is T1 and the softening point of the second glass is T2, the difference between T1 and T2 is 30 to 50°C, and the thermal expansion coefficient of the first glass is α1; The third glass is provided outside the capillary region and is in contact with the outer surface of the capillary region. The third glass has a softening point of T3. The difference between T2 and T3 is 50 to 100°C. When the thermal expansion coefficient of the third glass is α3, the difference between α1 and α3 is 2×10 -7 ~10×10 -7 and a wrapping region where the temperature is 100°C / °F.

[0008] The objectives of the present application and the solution to its technical problems can be further achieved by adopting the following technical measures.

[0009] Optionally, in the aforementioned capillary array, the capillaries have an inner diameter of 10 to 99 μm.

[0010] Optionally, in the aforementioned capillary array, the low refractive index layer is a SiO 2 layer having a thickness of ≧0.5 μm.

[0011] Optionally, in the aforementioned capillary array, the wrapping region has a thickness of 5 to 20 mm on one side along the diameter of the capillary.

[0012] Optionally, in the capillary array described above, a radial cross section of a single said capillary is square.

[0013] Optionally, in any of the aforementioned capillary arrays, said light absorbing layer is comprised of a light absorbing glass, or a light absorbing glass and a low softening point glass.

[0014] The objectives of the present application and the solution of its technical problems are realized by adopting the following technical solutions: The method for manufacturing a capillary array proposed in the present application includes: Step S1 of arranging and stretching glass tube preforms to form multifilaments, wherein the glass tube preforms are composed of an inner first glass and an outer second glass, and the softening point of the first glass is T1 and the softening point of the second glass is T2, the difference between T1 and T2 is 30 to 50°C, and the thermal expansion coefficient of the first glass is α1; Step S2 includes arranging the multifilaments to form a capillary bundle, and then winding a third glass monofilament in multiple layers around the capillary bundle to form a wrapping region, thereby obtaining a billet. When the softening point of the third glass is T3, the difference between T2 and T3 is 50 to 100°C. When the thermal expansion coefficient of the third glass is α3, the difference between α1 and α3 is 2×10 -7 ~10×10 -7 / °C, and step S2; In step S3, the billet is melt-pressed and then both end surfaces of the billet are cut flat. When the temperature of the melt-press is T, T2 <T<T1とする、ステップS3と、 and step S4 of coating a low refractive index layer inside each capillary that constitutes the capillary bundle, the refractive index of the low refractive index layer being lower than the refractive index of the liquid scintillator.

[0015] The objectives of the present application and the solution to the technical problems thereof can also be achieved by adopting the following technical measures.

[0016] Optionally, in the above-described manufacturing method, the method for manufacturing the glass tube preform includes: A. A first glass is processed into a glass tube having a cross section in which both the inner and outer contours are square circular cross sections, and a second glass is processed into a glass rod having a square cross section, and the glass rod is drawn into a second glass monofilament; B. The second glass monofilaments are arranged to completely cover the outer circumference of the glass tube to form a glass tube preform, and the second glass monofilaments are light-absorbing glass monofilaments, or light-absorbing glass monofilaments and low-softening point glass monofilaments.

[0017] Optionally, in any of the foregoing manufacturing methods, the radial cross section of said glass tube preform is a circular cross section with both inner and outer contours being square.

[0018] Optionally, in the aforementioned manufacturing method, the method for coating a low refractive index layer is atomic layer deposition, and the low refractive index layer is a SiO 2 layer with a thickness of ≧0.5 μm.

[0019] The object of the present application and the solution to the technical problem can also be realized by adopting the following technical means: The liquid scintillator optical fiber panel proposed in the present application is: the capillary array as described above; a liquid scintillator filled in each capillary of the capillary array; and end-capping components that cover both ends of the capillary array filled with the liquid scintillator. [Effects of the Invention]

[0020] According to the above technical solutions, the capillary array, its manufacturing method and use proposed in this application have at least the following advantages:

[0021] The proposed capillary array, its manufacturing method, and use include providing a low-refractive index layer on the inner wall of the capillary. After filling the capillary with liquid scintillator, the low-refractive index layer serves as the outer layer of the optical fiber, while the liquid scintillator serves as the core layer. These two components work together to form an optical fiber structure with a liquid scintillator in the middle and a low-refractive index layer around the liquid scintillator. This avoids the limited number of low-refractive index glasses available for the outer layer of the liquid scintillator optical fiber, broadens the range of first-glass materials available, and improves the numerical aperture of the optical fiber by controlling the refractive index difference between the first and second glass materials. Furthermore, a light-absorbing layer made of a second glass is provided between any two adjacent capillaries. This effectively covers the outside of the capillaries, effectively blocking crosstalk between the capillaries and avoiding or reducing optical crosstalk between the two adjacent capillaries, thereby improving spatial resolution. By rationally designing the softening temperatures of the first, second, and third glasses, and covering the capillaries made of the first glass with the second glass, which has a lower softening point, and then covering the capillary array with the third glass, which has an even lower softening point, the resulting capillaries can maintain their original shape. In this way, if the original glass tube is circular, the subsequent capillaries will also be circular, and if the original glass tube is rectangular, the subsequent capillaries will also be rectangular. This means that the shape of the hollow holes in the capillaries is controlled, the shape retention is good, and ultimately the capillary pore diameter is highly uniform.

[0022] Furthermore, by controlling the cross-sectional shape of the original glass tube to be rectangular, the cross section of each light transmission channel of the liquid scintillator fiber panel manufactured using that glass tube will be square, allowing a single capillary to correspond one-to-one to the rectangular pixels of photosensitive elements such as CCDs and CMOS, thereby improving coupling efficiency.

[0023] Furthermore, the capillary material of conventional liquid scintillator optical fiber panels must simultaneously satisfy the requirements of a low refractive index, the ability to add an extra-wall absorbing layer, and the ability to be fiberized. In contrast, in the present invention, a low refractive index layer is obtained by applying a low refractive index film to the inner wall of the capillary. Therefore, there is no restriction on the refractive index of the glass of the capillary wall itself. The softening point of most glasses satisfies the requirements for adding an extra-wall absorbing layer. The effects of the present invention can be achieved simply by satisfying the fiberization requirement, and the manufacturing process is simple.

[0024] The above description is only an outline of the technical solution of the present application, but in order to more clearly understand the technical solution of the present application and to implement it in accordance with the contents of this specification, the preferred embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0025] [Figure 1] 1 is a structural schematic diagram of a capillary array according to the present application. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the structure of a glass tube preform. [Figure 3] 1 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a multifilament rod in the prior art. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0026] To further explain the technical means and advantages adopted by the present application to achieve the specified inventive objectives, the following provides a detailed description of specific embodiments, structures, features, and advantages of the capillary array, its manufacturing method, and use proposed herein, with reference to drawings and preferred examples. In the following description, different "examples" or "examples" do not necessarily refer to the same example. Furthermore, specific features, structures, or characteristics in one example or multiple examples may be combined in any suitable manner.

[0027] This application proposes a capillary array including a capillary region, as shown in Figures 1 and 2. The capillary region includes a plurality of capillaries 1 arranged with their axes parallel to each other. The capillary body 12 is made of a first glass material. The inner wall of each capillary is provided with a low-refractive index layer 11, whose refractive index is lower than that of the liquid scintillator. By combining the above technical solutions, the capillary can be filled with liquid scintillator in the future. The low-refractive index layer is used as the outer layer of the optical fiber, and the liquid scintillator is used as the core layer of the optical fiber. These two elements work together to form an optical fiber structure with a liquid scintillator in the middle region and a low-refractive index layer around the liquid scintillator. This allows for the formation of a total internal reflection interface with the liquid scintillator. This avoids the limited selection of low-refractive index glasses for the outer layer of the liquid scintillator optical fiber, expands the selection range of the first glass material, and improves the numerical aperture of the optical fiber by controlling the refractive index difference between the two. Based on the above design, the selection of the first glass material only needs to consider the manufacturing needs of the capillary array, regardless of the refractive index.

[0028] To avoid optical crosstalk between adjacent capillaries, the present technical solution provides a second glass optical absorbing layer 13 between any two adjacent capillaries, tightly covering the outside of the capillaries and effectively blocking crosstalk light between the capillaries, which is an improvement over the prior art. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, in the prior art, optical crosstalk between capillaries 3 is resolved by inserting an optical absorbing filament 4 between the capillaries 3. However, as can be seen from the figure, optical crosstalk still occurs due to gaps between the optical absorbing filaments. In contrast, in the present invention, a fully covering optical absorbing layer is provided on the outside of the capillaries, thereby avoiding or reducing crosstalk light and improving spatial resolution.

[0029] The capillary array of the present application further includes a wrapping region 2. The wrapping region has two main functions. First, because the softening point of the wrapping region is relatively low, it softens first during the subsequent melt pressing process, which helps to equalize the pressure applied to the billet during melt pressing, thereby achieving an effect similar to that of hot isostatic pressing. Second, because the wrapping region is formed by melt pressing a solid fiber, it serves to protect the capillaries in the array region and prevent them from being damaged by external forces. The wrapping region is located outside the capillary region and is in contact with and integrated with the outer surface of the capillary region. The wrapping region is made of a third glass.

[0030] In order to accommodate the manufacturing process of the capillary array and to enhance the shape retention of the pore structure of the cross section of the capillary during the manufacturing process, the manufactured capillaries have high pore diameter uniformity. In this application, when selecting the first glass, the second glass, and the third glass, the following relationship must be satisfied.

[0031] 1. Let T1 be the softening point of the first glass, T2 be the softening point of the second glass, and T3 be the softening point of the third glass. The difference between T1 and T2 is 30-50°C, and the difference between T2 and T3 is 50-100°C. This means that there is a gradient in the softening points of the first, second, and third glasses. Therefore, when the capillary is stretched (when the glass in the wrapping region has not yet been added), the absorber glass softens and fuses first, while the inner wall glass still maintains its original shape. When the capillary is melt-pressed (when the glass in the wrapping region is covered), the material in the wrapping region softens and fuses first, while the capillary in the array region still maintains its original shape. This overcomes the problem of capillary deformation due to high-temperature extrusion. However, if the softening point is too low, the viscosity will be too low, resulting in insufficient support for the capillary bundles in the array region, making them more likely to break apart or deform, and therefore the above temperature difference is selected in this application.

[0032] 2. If the thermal expansion coefficient of the first glass is α1 and the thermal expansion coefficient of the third glass is α3, the difference between α1 and α3 is 2 x 10 -7 ~10×10 -7 / °C. The thermal expansion coefficient α3 of the wrapping region during melt pressing must be lower than the thermal expansion coefficient α1 of the capillaries. This allows the capillary bundle to fuse under the action of compressive stress. However, the difference in thermal expansion between the two must not be too large; otherwise, large residual stresses may occur after the continuous high-temperature, high-pressure melt pressing process, which may cause the billet to explode.

[0033] One of the uses of the capillary array in the technical solution of the present application is to manufacture it into a liquid scintillator optical fiber panel. The present application also proposes a liquid scintillator fiber panel, which includes the above-mentioned capillary array, fills each capillary of the capillary array with a liquid scintillator, and then covers both ends of the capillary array filled with the liquid scintillator with end-capping parts to form a liquid scintillator fiber panel.

[0034] To ensure that the capillary array has good light transmission performance after fabrication into a liquid scintillator fiber panel and can achieve 10 μm-scale resolution in subsequent use, its pore diameter must not be too large. Optionally, the inner diameter of the capillary in this application is 10 μm-scale. The 10 μm scale referred to here means that the inner diameter of the capillary is 10 to 99 μm. Furthermore, the pore diameter of the capillary must not be too small, because if the pore diameter of the capillary is too small, the amount of liquid scintillator filled in a single capillary will be too small to excite sufficient fluorescence, making it difficult to use in a liquid scintillator fiber optic panel. To ensure the quality of image transmission through the optical fiber and ensure that the optical fiber can be successfully used in a liquid scintillator fiber optic panel, the inner diameter of the capillary in this application is optionally 10 to 30 μm.

[0035] The present application also specifically proposes a method for manufacturing a capillary array, comprising the following steps:

[0036] Step 1: Prepare glass materials for the first glass, the second glass, and the third glass, whose softening point temperature and thermal expansion coefficient satisfy the aforementioned requirements. The second glass is a light-absorbing glass, or the second glass includes a light-absorbing glass and a low-softening-point glass.

[0037] Step 2: Preforms for each of the first glass, second glass, and third glass are manufactured, including:

[0038] The first glass is processed into a glass tube, and the opening of the drawn capillary tube is optionally rectangular. The cross section of the glass tube is a circular cross section with square inner and outer contours, a wall thickness of 2 to 4 mm, and an inner diameter of 20 to 50 mm. For a glass tube with a circular cross section and a square inner contour, the inner diameter refers to the distance between the opposing sides. When a capillary array is used for optical fiber image transmission, the capillary array is used in the form of a liquid scintillator optical fiber panel, whose output end is generally connected to a photosensitive element such as a CCD or CMOS, and the pixels of the photosensitive element such as a CCD or CMOS are all rectangular. However, the cross section of each individual capillary in a capillary array according to the prior art is always circular. Therefore, each individual capillary does not correspond one-to-one to the pixels of the photosensitive element such as a CCD or CMOS, resulting in low coupling efficiency between the liquid scintillator optical fiber panel and the photosensitive element such as a CCD or CMOS. In the present application, the first glass is processed into a glass tube having a cross section in which both the inner and outer contours are square circular cross sections. By processing such as stretching, the radial cross section of each capillary tube becomes a circular cross section in which both the inner and outer contours are square. This allows each capillary tube to correspond one-to-one with a rectangular pixel of a photosensitive element such as a CCD or CMOS, thereby improving the coupling efficiency.

[0039] Both the second glass and the third glass are processed into glass rods whose cross sections are all square and whose opposing sides are spaced 20 to 50 mm apart, and the glass rods are then drawn into monofilaments having a square cross section, with the opposing sides of the monofilament spaced 0.3 to 2 mm apart.

[0040] Regarding the selection of the rod / tube size, if it is too thin, the material utilization rate may decrease, while if it is too thick, the temperature difference between the center and periphery of the rod / tube during drawing will be large, resulting in poor pore size uniformity in the resulting capillary tube. Regarding the wall thickness, the reason for the above setting is to ensure the strength required for the final capillary tube without reducing detection efficiency due to a too large wall thickness and a too low duty cycle. The size of the rectangular filament is set so that it can surround the outer periphery of the rectangular glass tube without significantly reducing the duty cycle.

[0041] Step 3: The monofilaments stretched by the second glass are arranged to completely cover the outer circumference of the first glass tube to form a tube preform, thereby enabling 360° crosstalk light absorption. As shown in Figure 2, the glass tube preform itself contains two layers of glass: an inner first glass and an outer second glass. The monofilaments stretched by the second glass may all be monofilaments 132 made of light-absorbing glass. However, if the light-absorbing effect of the light-absorbing glass is too strong and its content is too high, the light-absorbing components may diffuse into the capillary glass and absorb effective light. In this case, the proportion of the light-absorbing glass can be appropriately reduced. Therefore, monofilaments 131 made of low-softening point glass and monofilaments 132 made of light-absorbing glass may be included simultaneously. These two materials are mixed in a certain ratio and arranged according to a predetermined arrangement rule. In specific operations, the mixing ratio of the two materials can be determined depending on the absorption capacity of the light-absorbing glass. If the light-absorbing capacity of the light-absorbing glass is strong, the proportion of the light-absorbing glass is reduced, and vice versa. In the present invention, by providing a light-absorbing glass (having a softening point lower than that of the first glass) between the capillaries, or by providing a light-absorbing glass (having a softening point lower than that of the first glass) and a low-softening-point glass between the capillaries, the light-absorbing glass can absorb crosstalk light between the capillaries while improving the shape retention of the capillaries. The low-softening-point glass is used to adjust the light absorption effect and also has the effect of improving the shape retention of the capillaries.

[0042] Step 4: The tube preform is drawn into a capillary tube. This drawing is usually performed twice. First, the tube preform is drawn the first time to obtain multiple rectangular primary multifilaments. The distance between the opposing sides of the cross section of the primary multifilament is optionally between 0.5 and 2 mm. The reason for setting this size is that if the distance between the opposing sides is too small, the subsequent rod arrangement operation may become more difficult, while if the distance between the opposing sides is too large, it becomes difficult to accurately control the filament diameter during drawing, resulting in large deviations and large gaps when arranging the rods, which affects the regularity of the capillary array. Next, the primary multifilaments are stacked and arranged in a rectangular shape to obtain a multifilament rod with a square cross section. The distance between the opposing sides of the multifilament rod may be optionally between 20 and 50 mm to meet the requirements of material utilization and temperature uniformity. Next, the primary multifilament is drawn a second time to obtain a rectangular secondary multifilament. The distance between the opposing sides of the cross section of the secondary multifilament may be optionally 0.5 to 2 mm to meet the requirements for precise control and subsequent array arrangement. After two stretching processes, the radial cross section of the single capillary becomes square.

[0043] Step 5: The rectangular secondary multifilaments are arranged in a rectangular capillary bundle, and multiple layers of a third glass monofilament are wound around the periphery to form a wrapping region, forming a billet. The thickness of the wrapping region is optionally 5 to 20 mm, i.e., the thickness of one side of the wrapping region along the radial direction of the capillary tube is 5 to 20 mm. The reason for setting the wrapping region thickness is that the wrapping region softens first during melt pressing, thereby equalizing stress. Therefore, if the wrapping region thickness is too thin, the effect of equalization will be insignificant, and if the wrapping region thickness is too thick, unnecessary material waste may occur.

[0044] Step 6: Place the billet into the melting press mold and perform a melting press at high temperature. The melting press temperature is higher than the softening point of the second glass and lower than the softening point of the first glass. That is, the melting press temperature T satisfies T2 < T < T1. At this melting press temperature, the absorption layer is already in a softened state, but the capillaries are not softened. Therefore, the capillaries can fuse with each other through the absorption layer glass while maintaining the angular structure.

[0045] Step 7: Process the end face. In a specific operation, use a cutting machine to process the end face into a plane perpendicular to the axial direction of the capillary. Then, wash the billet with ultrasonic waves and dry it. During cutting, water is used as a coolant to facilitate subsequent cleaning. By washing the billet with ultrasonic waves and drying it, impurities such as glass fragments and cutting fluid that have entered the capillary during end face processing are removed.

[0046] Step 8: Coat a low refractive index layer on the inner wall of each capillary of the billet with the processed end face. When coating the film layer, optionally, an atomic layer deposition technique can be used to deposit a low refractive index film on the inner wall of the capillary. This is because the atomic layer deposition technique can uniformly coat the film on the inner wall of the deep hole. Since the refractive index of the SiO2 film layer is as low as 1.46, SiO2 can be selected as the material of the film layer, and a high numerical aperture can be obtained by filling a liquid scintillator. The thickness of the film layer can optionally be ≧0.5 μm so that fluorescence can be reflected without passing through the film layer.

[0047] Hereinafter, the present application will be further described with reference to specific examples, but this should not be construed as limiting the protection scope of the present application. Improvements and adjustments that are not essential made by those skilled in the art based on the above content of the present application are still included within the protection scope of the present application.

[0048] Unless otherwise specified, all materials, reagents, etc. described below are commercially available products well known to those skilled in the art. Unless otherwise specified, all methods are well known in the art. Unless otherwise defined, technical or scientific terms used shall have the common meaning understood by those skilled in the art. [Example]

[0049] Example 1 In this example, capillary arrays and liquid scintillator fiber optic panels were fabricated, in which four types of glass materials were used: The first glass has a softening point of 606°C and a thermal expansion coefficient of 92 x 10 -7 / °C, There are two types of second glass: the light-absorbing glass has a softening point of 576°C, and the low-softening-point glass has a softening point of 570°C. The softening point of the third glass is 506°C, and the thermal expansion coefficient of the wrapping glass is 82 × 10 -7 / ℃.

[0050] The specific manufacturing process is as follows.

[0051] 1) The first glass is processed into a glass tube having a square cross section, a wall thickness of 2 mm, and an inner diameter of 20 mm.

[0052] 2) The light-absorbing glass, low-softening point glass, and third glass are processed into glass rods with a square cross section and a distance between opposing sides of 20 mm. The rectangular glass rods are drawn into rectangular light-absorbing monofilaments, low-softening point glass monofilaments, and third glass monofilaments, where the distance between opposing sides of the light-absorbing monofilaments and low-softening point glass monofilaments is 0.3 mm, and the distance between opposing sides of the wrapping glass monofilaments is 0.5 mm.

[0053] 3) A low-softening point glass monofilament and a light-absorbing monofilament are mixed in a 1:1 ratio and arranged so as to completely cover the outer periphery of a rectangular glass tube to form a tube preform.

[0054] 4) The tube preform is stretched into a capillary tube, with the specific steps being as follows: First, the tube preform is stretched a first time to obtain a plurality of rectangular primary multifilaments. The distance between opposite sides of the cross section of the primary multifilaments is 1 mm. Next, the primary multifilaments are stacked and arranged in a rectangular shape to obtain a multifilament rod with a square cross section. The distance between opposite sides of the primary multifilament rod is 30 mm. After that, the primary multifilament is stretched a second time to obtain a rectangular secondary multifilament. The distance between opposite sides of the cross section of the secondary multifilament is 0.5 mm.

[0055] 5) The rectangular secondary multifilaments are arranged into a rectangular capillary bundle, and 10 layers of the third glass monofilament are wound around the outer periphery to form a wrapping region, forming a billet. The thickness of the wrapping region is 5 mm.

[0056] 6) The billet is placed in a melting press die and melt-pressed at 595°C.

[0057] 7) Using water as a coolant, a cutting machine is used to process the end face of the melt-pressed billet into a flat surface perpendicular to the axial direction of the capillary tube, and the billet is ultrasonically cleaned and dried.

[0058] 8) Using atomic layer deposition technology, a thin SiO2 film is deposited on the inner wall of the capillary tube, with a thickness of 0.6 μm.

[0059] When examined using an optical microscope, the capillary array produced in this example had a capillary pore diameter of 12.9 μm and a wall thickness of 3.8 μm.

[0060] The capillary tube is filled with liquid scintillator, and both ends are packaged with quartz lenses and optical fiber panels with a 5μm core diameter. Performance testing of the liquid scintillator fiber panel revealed that the refractive index of the liquid scintillator is 1.57, the numerical aperture of the liquid scintillator fiber panel is 0.5, the visible light resolution of the liquid scintillator fiber panel is 20.1 lp / mm, and the coupling efficiency with the CCD is 61%.

[0061] Examples 2 to 6 As in Example 1, specific parameter changes are shown in Table 1 below.

[0062] [Table 1]

[0063] Comparative Example Tests of conventional liquid scintillator fiber optic panels have shown that their numerical aperture is up to 0.3, their visible light resolution is up to 2.24 lp / mm, and their coupling efficiency with CCD can reach up to 40%.

[0064] The test data of the examples and comparative examples of the present application show that the numerical aperture of the liquid scintillator optical fiber panel manufactured by the technical solution of the present application is improved by 66% to 134%, the visible light resolution is improved by 300% to 798%, and the coupling efficiency with the CCD is improved by 37.5% to 52.5%.

[0065] The technical features in the claims and / or the description of this application can be combined, and the combination method is not limited to the combination obtained by reference in the claims. The technical solutions obtained by combining the technical features in the claims and / or the description are also within the protection scope of this application.

[0066] As described above, the present invention merely provides preferred embodiments of the present invention, and does not impose any formal limitations on the present invention. Any simple modifications, equivalent changes, and modifications made to the above embodiments based on the technical substance of the present invention are all within the scope of the technical solutions of the present invention.

Claims

1. A capillary array comprising: The device includes a plurality of capillaries made of a first glass and arranged with their axes parallel to one another, and the inner wall of each capillary is provided with a low refractive index layer having a refractive index lower than that of the liquid scintillator. A light absorbing layer made of a second glass is provided between any two adjacent capillaries. The softening point of the first glass is set to T 1 , the softening point of the second glass is T 2 Then, T 1 -T 2 The difference between the thermal expansion coefficients of the first glass is 30 to 50°C, and the thermal expansion coefficient of the first glass is α 1 a capillary region in which The capillary region is provided outside the capillary region, and the capillary region is in contact with the outer surface of the capillary region. The softening point of the capillary region is T 3 The third glass is made of T 2 -T 3 The difference between the thermal expansion coefficients of the third glass is 50 to 100°C, and α 3 Then, α 1 -α 3 The difference is 2 x 10 -7 ~10 x 10 -7 a wrapping region having a temperature of 100°C / °F.

2. 2. The capillary array according to claim 1, wherein the inner diameter of the capillary is 10 to 99 μm.

3. The low refractive index layer is made of SiO 2 The capillary array of claim 1, wherein the capillary array is a layer.

4. 2. The capillary array according to claim 1, wherein the thickness of one side of the wrapping region along the radial direction of the capillary is 5 to 20 mm.

5. 2. The capillary array of claim 1, wherein a radial cross section of a single capillary is square.

6. 2. The capillary array according to claim 1, wherein the light-absorbing layer is made of a light-absorbing glass or a light-absorbing glass and a low-softening-point glass.

7. 1. A method for manufacturing a capillary array, comprising: In step S1, a glass tube preform is arranged and stretched to form a multifilament, and the glass tube preform is composed of an inner first glass and an outer second glass, and the softening point of the first glass is set to T 1 , the softening point of the second glass is T 2 Then, T 1 -T 2 The difference between the thermal expansion coefficients of the first glass is 30 to 50°C, and the thermal expansion coefficient of the first glass is α 1 Step S1: Step S2, in which the multifilaments are arranged into a capillary bundle, and then a third glass monofilament is wound around the outer periphery of the capillary bundle in a plurality of layers to form a wrapping region, thereby obtaining a billet, and the softening point of the third glass is set to T 3 Then, T 2 -T 3 The difference between the thermal expansion coefficients of the third glass is 50 to 100°C, and α 3 Then, α 1 -α 3 The difference is 2 x 10 -7 ~10 x 10 -7 / °C, step S2; In step S3, the billet is melt-pressed and then both end surfaces of the billet are cut flat. When the temperature of the melt-press is T, T 2 <T<T 1 Step S3: and step S4 of coating a low refractive index layer inside each capillary that constitutes the capillary bundle, wherein the refractive index of the low refractive index layer is lower than the refractive index of the liquid scintillator.

8. The method for producing the glass tube preform includes the following steps: A. A first glass is processed into a glass tube having a cross section in which both the inner and outer contours are square circular cross sections, a second glass is processed into a glass rod having a square cross section, and the glass rod is drawn into a second glass monofilament; B. The manufacturing method according to claim 7, wherein the second glass monofilaments are arranged so as to completely cover the outer periphery of the glass tube to form a glass tube preform, and the second glass monofilaments are light-absorbing glass monofilaments, or light-absorbing glass monofilaments and low-softening point glass monofilaments.

9. 9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the radial cross section of the glass tube preform is a circular cross section with both inner and outer contours being square.

10. The method for coating the low refractive index layer is atomic layer deposition, and the low refractive index layer is made of SiO 2 with a thickness of ≥ 0.5 μm. 2 The method according to claim 7, characterized in that the layer is a layer.

11. A liquid scintillator fiber optic panel, A capillary array according to any one of claims 1 to 6; a liquid scintillator filled in each capillary of the capillary array; and end capping parts covering both ends of the capillary array filled with the liquid scintillator.

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