68 results about "Scintillating fiber" patented technology

An apparatus and method for in vivo and ex vivo control, detection and measurement of radiation in therapy, diagnostics, and related applications accomplished through scintillating fiber detection. One example includes scintillating fibers placed along a delivery guide such as a catheter for measuring applied radiation levels during radiotherapy treatments, sensing locations of a radiation source, or providing feedback of sensed radiation. Another option is to place the fibers into a positioning device such as a balloon, or otherwise in the field of the radiation delivery. The scintillating fibers provide light output levels correlating to the levels of radiation striking the fibers and comparative measurement between fibers can be used for more extensive dose mapping. Adjustments to a radiation treatment may be made as needed based on actual and measured applied dosages as determined by the fiber detectors. Characteristics of a radiation source may also be measured using scintillating materials.

A radiation dosimetry apparatus and method use a scintillating optical fiber array for detecting dose levels. The scintillating optical fiber detectors generate optical energy in response to a predetermined type of radiation, and are coupled to collection optical fibers that transmit the optical energy to a photo-detector for conversion to an electrical signal. The detectors may be embedded in one or more modular, water-equivalent phantom slabs. A repeatable connector couples the collection fibers to the photo-detector, maintaining the fiber ends in a predetermined spatial relationship. The detector fibers may be distributed as desired in a three-dimensional detection space, and may be oriented with their longitudinal axes at different orientations relative to a transmission axis of an incident radiation beam. A calibration method uses two measurements in two spectral windows, one with irradiation of the scintillator at a known dose and one with only irradiation of the collection fiber.

A radiation therapy system including a linear accelerator configured to emit a beam of radiation and a dosimeter configured to detect in real-time the beam of radiation emitted by the linear accelerator. The dosimeter includes at least one linear array of scintillating fibers configured to capture radiation from the beam at a plurality of independent angular orientations, and a detection system coupled to the at least one linear array, the detection system configured to detect the beam of radiation by measuring an output of the scintillating fibers.

The invention relates to an optical fiber coupling organic scintillating fiber pulse neutron probe comprising a probe and a photoelectric converter, wherein the probe comprises a metal shell and a radiation sensitive unit positioned at a central position on the shell, the shell is provided with a probe incident window and a probe exit window along the beam incident direction, and the probe also comprises a light guide bundle used for connecting the probe and the photoelectric converter; the radiation sensitive unit is an organic scintillating fiber linear array formed by a single layer of organic scintillating fibers which are parallelly arranged, and the organic scintillating fiber linear array is arranged perpendicularly to the beam incident direction and fixed on the inner side wall of the metal shell; the light guide bundle is formed by a plurality of silica optical fibers which are bundled cables, and the silica optical fibers are coupled with the organic scintillating fibers one to one; and a light exit surface at the tail end of the light guide bundle is aligned with an incident window of the photoelectric converter. The optical fiber coupling organic scintillating fiber pulse neutron probe solves the technical problems that the existing pulse neutron probe cannot satisfy the requirements of fast response time, high n / gamma sensitivity ratio, strong anti-electromagnetic interference capability and low shield simultaneously, and has high n / gamma sensitivity ratio and strong anti-gamma interference capability.

A radiation detection device, system, and method for use in homeland security is disclosed. The device is portable and includes a photomultiplier tube (PMT) connected to an end of a substantially rigid thin-walled aluminum tube. Inside the aluminum tube, a substantially straight scintillating fiber is disposed (so as to be shielded from ambient light), and an end of the scintillating fiber is optically coupled to the PMT. A voltage output signal from the PMT is signal-processed with a filter to remove high-frequency noise (which may arise from solar radiation spikes) and fed to a voltage-responsive alarm or signalling device. The portable device is employed, for example, by responders to nuclear incidents and is packaged as a small wearable hands-free and eyes-free unit with a continuous in-use self-testing feature.

An apparatus and method for in vivo and ex vivo control, detection and measurements of radiation in brachytherapy accomplished through scintillating material detection. One example includes scintillating fibers placed along a delivery guide such as a catheter for measuring applied radiation levels during brachytherapy treatments, sensing locations of a radiation source or providing feedback of sensed radiation. The catheter may also be a mammosite type catheter. The scintillating fibers provide light output levels correlating to the levels of radiation striking the fibers. The output may then be used to measure and compute radiation distribution maps using Monte Carlo reconstruction simulation. Adjustments to a radiation treatment may be made as needed based on actual and measured applied dosages. Characteristics of a radiation source may also be measured using scintillating materials.

A radiation detection device, system, and method for use in homeland security is disclosed. The device is portable and includes a photomultiplier tube (PMT) connected to an end of a substantially rigid thin-walled aluminum tube. Inside the aluminum tube, a substantially straight scintillating fiber is disposed (so as to be shielded from ambient light), and an end of the scintillating fiber is optically coupled to the PMT. A voltage output signal from the PMT is signal-processed with a filter to remove high-frequency noise (which may arise from solar radiation spikes) and fed to a voltage-responsive alarm or signalling device. The portable device is employed, for example, in baggage and vehicle radiation scanning systems, as well as for large-area radiation mapping and directional radiation sensing.

According to one aspect, a fluence monitoring detector for use with a multileaf collimator on a radiotherapy machine having an x-ray radiation source. The fluence monitoring detector includes a plurality of scintillating optical fibers, each scintillating optical fiber configured to generate a light output at each end thereof in response to incident radiation pattern thereon from the radiation source and multileaf collimator, a plurality of collection optical fibers coupled to the opposing ends of the scintillating optical fibers and operable to collect the light output coming from both ends of each scintillating optical fiber, and a photo-detector coupled to the collection optical fibers and operable to converts optical energy transmitted by the collection optical fibers to electric signals for determining actual radiation pattern information.

A firearm sight comprising a generally circular sight support ring surrounding and removably holding an optically clear generally circular lens, said lens having a cylindrical shape, front and back faces, a diameter greater than the thickness of the lens, and a scintillating fiber optic member centrally embedded within said circular lens, a means for mounting said circular sight support ring to a firearm, and a means of adjusting said circular support ring in relation to said means for mounting said ring to a firearm.

A displacement difference dosimetry method is provided for use with in-vivo scintillating fiber radiation detectors. A scintillating fiber includes an insertion end which is incrementally inserted into a human body using a catheter or hypodermic needle to provide a fixed (but not necessarily known) insertion path. A photomultiplier tube is coupled to the other end of the scintillating fiber and detects both scintillation light and any Cerenkov light for each position of the scintillating fiber insertion end along the fixed insertion path. The change in the amount of light detected by the photomultiplier tube divided by the corresponding amount of change in position of the scintillating fiber insertion end gives a measure of the dose rate at the scintillation fiber tip which is substantially free from the effects of Cerenkov light.

A nuclear level sensing gauge for measuring the level of product in a bin utilizes a plurality of scintillators arranged in a serial fashion. A source of nuclear radiation is positioned adjacent the bin, and the scintillators, which may be bundles of one or more scintillating fibers or scintillating crystals, are positioned in a serial fashion adjacent the bin opposite the source of nuclear radiation, such that nuclear radiation passing through the bin impinges upon the bundles. Light guides carry photons emitted by the scintillators—which are indicative of radiation passing through the bin—to a common photomultiplier tube. The tube is connected to electronics which convert counts of photons from the PMT into a measure of the level of radiation-absorbing product in the bin.

A radiation dosimetry apparatus and method use a scintillating optical fiber array for detecting dose levels. The scintillating optical fiber detectors generate optical energy in response to a predetermined type of radiation, and are coupled to collection optical fibers that transmit the optical energy to a photo-detector for conversion to an electrical signal. The detectors may be embedded in one or more modular, water-equivalent phantom slabs. A repeatable connector couples the collection fibers to the photo-detector, maintaining the fiber ends in a predetermined spatial relationship. The detector fibers may be distributed as desired in a three-dimensional detection space, and may be oriented with their longitudinal axes at different orientations relative to a transmission axis of an incident radiation beam. A calibration method uses two measurements in two spectral windows, one with irradiation of the scintillator at a known dose and one with only irradiation of the collection fiber.

A radiation detector (24) for an imaging system includes a two-dimensional array (50) of nondeliquescent ceramic scintillating fibers or sheets (52). The scintillating fibers (52) are manufactured from a GOS ceramic material. Each scintillating fiber (52) has a width (d2) between 0.1 mm and I mm, a length (h2) between 0.1 mm and 2mm and a height (h8) between 1mm and 2mm. Such scintillating fiber (52) has a height (h8) to cross-sectional dimension (d2, h2) ratio of approximately 10 to 1. The scintillating fibers (52) are held together by layers (86, 96) of a low index coating material. A two-dimensional array (32) of photodiodes (34) is positioned adjacent and in optical communication with the scintillating fibers (52) to convert the visible light into electrical signals. A grid (28) is disposed by the scintillating array (50). The grid (28) has the apertures (30) which correspond to a cross-section of the photodiodes (34) and determine a spatial resolution of the imaging system.

The invention relates to a novel single-ion microbeam detector based on a plastic scintillating fiber, comprising a microscope, wherein a single-ion microbeam is arranged below the objective lens of the microscope; an exit port of the single-ion microbeam rightly faces the objective lens of the microscope; and a sample to be measured is arranged between the objective lens of the microscope and theexit port of the single-ion microbeam. The novel single-ion microbeam detector based on the plastic scintillating fiber also comprises a plastic scintillating fiber which is squashed and a photomultiplier, wherein the squashed part of the plastic scintillating fiber is located between the exit port of the single-ion microbeam and the sample to be measured; two ends of the plastic scintillating fiber are respectively coupled with the photomultiplier; the single-ion microbeam sends out an ion to the sample to be measured when the ion passes through the plastic scintillating fiber, the plastic scintillating fiber generates a photon and transmits the photon to the photomultiplier which converts an optical signal into an electrical signal, and then the ion passes through the plastic scintillating fiber and bombards the sample.

According to one aspect, a fluence monitoring detector for use with a multileaf collimator on a radiotherapy machine having an x-ray radiation source. The fluence monitoring detector includes a plurality of scintillating optical fibers, each scintillating optical fiber configured to generate a light output at each end thereof in response to incident radiation pattern thereon from the radiation source and multileaf collimator, a plurality of collection optical fibers coupled to the opposing ends of the scintillating optical fibers and operable to collect the light output coming from both ends of each scintillating optical fiber, and a photo-detector coupled to the collection optical fibers and operable to converts optical energy transmitted by the collection optical fibers to electric signals for determining actual radiation pattern information.

The present invention relates a detector (11) for detecting megavoltage X-ray radiation (3), comprising a scintillator (2) including a plurality of heavy scintillating fibers (13) for emitting scintillation photons in response to incident megavoltage X-ray radiation (3), a support structure (15) for supporting said plurality of heavy scintillating fibers (13) and holding them in place; and a photodetector (17) for detecting the spatial intensity distribution of the emitted scintillation photons. The present invention further relates to an apparatus (35) for radiation therapy comprising a particle accelerator (37) and a detector (11) for detecting megavoltage radiation. Still further, the present invention relates to methods for detecting X-ray radiation and for radiation therapy.

A portable nuclear material detector generally includes a scintillating fiber radiation sensor, a light detector, a conditioning circuit, a frequency shift keying (FSK) circuit, a fast Fourier transform (FFT) circuit, an electronic controller, an amplitude spectral addition circuit, and an output device. A high voltage direct current (HVDC) source is provided to excite the light detector, while a separate power supply may be provided to power the remaining components. Portability is facilitated by locating the components of the detector within a handheld-sized housing. When bombarded by gamma particles, the radiation sensor emits light, which is detected by the light detector and converted into electrical signals. These electrical signals are then conditioned and converted to spectral lines. The frequency of a give spectral line is associated with a particular radioactive isotope, while the cumulative amplitude of all spectral lines having a common frequency is indicative of the strength and location of the isotope. All or part of this information (identity, strength, direction, and distance) may be provided on the output device.

A portable nuclear material detector generally includes a scintillating fiber radiation sensor, a light detector, a conditioning circuit, a frequency shift keying (FSK) circuit, a fast Fourier transform (FFT) circuit, an electronic controller, an amplitude spectral addition circuit, and an output device. A high voltage direct current (HVDC) source is provided to excite the light detector, while a separate power supply may be provided to power the remaining components. Portability is facilitated by locating the components of the detector within a handheld-sized housing. When bombarded by gamma particles, the radiation sensor emits light, which is detected by the light detector and converted into electrical signals. These electrical signals are then conditioned and converted to spectral lines. The frequency of a give spectral line is associated with a particular radioactive isotope, while the cumulative amplitude of all spectral lines having a common frequency is indicative of the strength and location of the isotope. All or part of this information (identity, strength, direction, and distance) may be provided on the output device.

An x-ray detector for use in the presence of magnetic resonance imaging equipment provides a two-stage transmission path of optical fiber followed by a non-ferromagnetic shielded cable to displace measurement electronics outside of the concentrated magnetic and radiofrequency fields of the MRI device. Conversion from light to an electrical signal for this transmission path is provided by circuitry held in a non-ferromagnetic Faraday cage. In this way accurate x-ray measurements may be made in radiotherapy equipment working in conjunction with magnetic resonance imaging for accurate dose placement.

The invention discloses an ultrafast gamma ray energy spectrum measuring instrument based on a scintillating-fiber array. The ultrafast gamma ray energy spectrum measuring instrument comprises the scintillating-fiber array and a detector array which are arranged sequentially along the incidence direction of an ultrafast gamma ray, and the output end of the detector array is connected with the input end of the scintillating-fiber array. According to the ultrafast gamma ray energy spectrum measuring instrument based on a scintillating-fiber array, a detecting channel of the separated ultrafast gamma rays is formed by each scintillating-fiber and the corresponding detector of the scintillating-fiber and the crosstalk problem of the photon in the detector is avoided; the ultrafast gamma ray energy spectrum measuring instrument has the advantages that the detecting accuracy is high, the structure is simple and compact, and the use is flexible.

A glass-clad scintillation optical fiber and a preparation method thereof belong to the preparation and application of new scintillation optical fibers and relate to the field of preparation and application of scintillation materials. The outer cladding layer of the scintillation optical fiber prepared by the present invention adopts a low-content Si glass material, which effectively reduces the infiltration of Si atoms into the optical fiber core during the drawing process, and can simultaneously meet the requirements for drawing an optical fiber with a small size of tens of microns. The preparation method of the scintillation optical fiber of the present invention comprises the steps of prefabricated rod, optical fiber drawing and heat treatment. The scintillation optical fiber of the present invention has high optical performance, fast attenuation, high density and low cost, and can be applied to the fields of modern nuclear detection and medical space imaging equipment and the like.

The present invention relates a detector (11) for detecting megavoltage X-ray radiation (3), comprising a scintillator (2) including a plurality of heavy scintillating fibers (13) for emitting scintillation photons in response to incident megavoltage X-ray radiation (3), a support structure (15) for supporting said plurality of heavy scintillating fibers (13) and holding them in place; and a photodetector (17) for detecting the spatial intensity distribution of the emitted scintillation photons. The present invention further relates to an apparatus (35) for radiation therapy comprising a particle accelerator (37) and a detector (11) for detecting megavoltage radiation. Still further, the present invention relates to methods for detecting X-ray radiation and for radiation therapy.

A radiation detection device, system, and method for use in homeland security is disclosed. The device is portable and includes a photomultiplier tube (PMT) connected to an end of a substantially rigid thin-walled aluminum tube. Inside the aluminum tube, a substantially straight scintillating fiber is disposed (so as to be shielded from ambient light), and an end of the scintillating fiber is optically coupled to the PMT. A voltage output signal from the PMT is signal-processed with a filter to remove high-frequency noise (which may arise from solar radiation spikes) and fed to a voltage-responsive alarm or signalling device. The portable device is employed, for example, by responders to nuclear incidents and is packaged as a small wearable hands-free and eyes-free unit with a continuous in-use self-testing feature.

An apparatus and method for in vivo and ex vivo control, detection and measurements of radiation in brachytherapy accomplished through scintillating material detection. One example includes scintillating fibers placed along a delivery guide such as a catheter for measuring applied radiation levels during brachytherapy treatments, sensing locations of a radiation source or providing feedback of sensed radiation. The catheter may also be a mammosite type catheter. The scintillating fibers provide light output levels correlating to the levels of radiation striking the fibers. The output may then be used to measure and compute radiation distribution maps using Monte Carlo reconstruction simulation. Adjustments to a radiation treatment may be made as needed based on actual and measured applied dosages. Characteristics of a radiation source may also be measured using scintillating materials.

The present invention discloses an alpha and beta particle activity detection device which comprises a scintillating fiber bundle which comprises a plurality of spaced scintillating fibers, first and second photomultiplier tubes for receiving photons from the scintillating fibers and converting the photons into an electrical signal, first and second photomultiplier tube additional circuits for supplying power to the first and second photomultiplier tubes and amplifying an electrical signal, first and second output ends, and a sealing component. According to the device, the number of the photomultiplier tubes can be reduced, the volume of an overall detection system is reduced, the online measurement of total alpha and total beta activity in water is easily realized, the cost is low, the effective measurement area is large, and the online radioactivity measurement need of drinking water is satisfied.

A firearm sight comprising a generally circular sight support ring surrounding and removably holding an optically clear generally circular lens, said lens having a cylindrical shape, front and back faces, a diameter greater than the thickness of the lens, and a scintillating fiber optic member centrally embedded within said circular lens, a means for mounting said circular sight support ring to a firearm, and a means of adjusting said circular support ring in relation to said means for mounting said ring to a firearm.

Systems and methods of monitoring radiation include a radiation monitoring glove. The glove is to be worn by a person that may be exposed to the radiation and includes at least one fiber sleeve attached to at least one finger of the glove. The glove also includes at least one scintillating fiber disposed in the at least one fiber sleeve. The scintillating fiber is configured for generating photons responsive to exposure to radiation in proximity thereto. The glove also includes a photon-sensing device disposed in a collector pocket on the glove. The photon-sensing device is operably coupled to a distal end of the one or more scintillating fibers.

A method and apparatus to manufacture a coherent bundle of scintillating fibers is disclosed. A method includes providing a collimated bundle having a glass preform with capillaries therethrough known in the industry as a glass capillary array, and infusing the glass capillary array with a scintillating polymer or a polymer matrix containing scintillating nanoparticles.