2911 results about "Scintillator" patented technology

A single crystal having the general composition, Ce2x(Lu1-yYy)2(1-x)SiO5 where x=approximately 0.00001 to approximately 0.05 and y=approximately 0.0001 to approximately 0.9999; preferably where x ranges from approximately 0.0001 to approximately 0.001 and y ranges from approximately 0.3 to approximately 0.8. The crystal is useful as a scintillation detector responsive to gamma ray or similar high energy radiation. The crystal as scintillation detector has wide application for the use in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, geology and cosmology because of its enhanced scintillation response to gamma rays, x-rays, cosmic rays and similar high energy particle radiation.

Applicant's present invention is a composite scintillator having enhanced transparency for detecting ionizing radiation comprising a material having optical transparency wherein said material comprises nano-sized objects having a size in at least one dimension that is less than the wavelength of light emitted by the composite scintillator wherein the composite scintillator is designed to have selected properties suitable for a particular application.

The invention provides methods and apparatus for detecting radiation including x-ray photon (including gamma ray photon) and particle radiation for radiographic imaging (including conventional CT and radiation therapy portal and CT), nuclear medicine, material composition analysis, container inspection, mine detection, remediation, high energy physics, and astronomy. This invention provides novel face-on, edge-on, edge-on sub-aperture resolution (SAR), and face-on SAR scintillator detectors, designs and systems for enhanced slit and slot scan radiographic imaging suitable for medical, industrial, Homeland Security, and scientific applications. Some of these detector designs are readily extended for use as area detectors, including cross-coupled arrays, gas detectors, and Compton gamma cameras. Energy integration, photon counting, and limited energy resolution readout capabilities are described. Continuous slit and slot designs as well as sub-slit and sub-slot geometries are described, permitting the use of modular detectors.

A method and apparatus for monitoring a scanning beam of penetrating radiation, such as a scanning proton beam used to irradiate tissue. The position of the beam is tracked in real time by interposing a scintillator film between a source and an object of irradiation. An imaging detector, in optical communication with the scintillator, provides an output that is indicative of the position of the radiation and its variation with time. The accumulated dose over a scan may also be monitored.

A flexible imager, for imaging a subject illuminated by incident radiation, includes a flexible substrate, a photosensor array disposed on the flexible substrate, and a scintillator. The scintillator is disposed so as to receive and absorb the incident radiation, is configured to convert the incident radiation to optical photons, and is optically coupled to the photosensor array. The photosensor array is configured to receive the optical photons and to generate an electrical signal corresponding to the optical photons. A digital imaging method for imaging subject includes conforming flexible digital imager to subject, the subject being positioned between flexible digital imager and a radiation source. The method further includes activating radiation source to expose the subject to radiation and collecting an image with the flexible digital imager.

A combined PET/MRI scanner generally includes a magnet for producing a magnetic field suitable for magnetic resonance imaging, a radiofrequency (RF) coil disposed within the magnetic field produced by the magnet and a ring tomograph disposed within the magnetic field produced by the magnet. The ring tomograph includes a scintillator layer for outputting at least one photon in response to an annihilation event, a detection array coupled to the scintillator layer for detecting the at least one photon outputted by the scintillator layer and for outputting a detection signal in response to the detected photon and a front-end electronic array coupled to the detection array for receiving the detection signal, wherein the front-end array has a preamplifier and a shaper network for conditioning the detection signal.

The present invention provides radiation detectors and methods, including radiation detection devices having beam-oriented scintillators capable of high-performance, high resolution imaging, methods of fabricating scintillators, and methods of radiation detection. A radiation detection device includes a beam-oriented pixellated scintillator disposed on a substrate, the scintillator having a first pixel having a first pixel axis and a second pixel having a second pixel axis, wherein the first and second axes are at an angle relative to each other, and wherein each axis is substantially parallel to a predetermined beam direction for illuminating the corresponding pixel.

The present invention provides a gamma-neutron detector based on mixtures of thermal neutron absorbers that produce heavy-particle emission following thermal capture. The detector consists of one or more thin screens embedded in transparent hydrogenous light guides, which also serve as a neutron moderator. The emitted particles interact with the scintillator screen and produce a high light output, which is collected by the light guides into a photomultiplier tube and produces a signal from which the neutrons are counted. Simultaneous gamma-ray detection is provided by replacing the light guide material with a plastic scintillator. The plastic scintillator serves as the gamma-ray detector, moderator and light guide. The neutrons and gamma-ray events are separated employing Pulse-Shape Discrimination (PSD). The detector can be used in several scanning configurations including portal, drive-through, drive-by, handheld and backpack, etc.

A projection-based x-ray imaging system combines projection magnification and optical magnification in order to ease constraints on source spot size, while improving imaging system footprint and efficiency. The system enables tomographic imaging of the sample especially in a proximity mode where the same is held in close proximity to the scintillator. In this case, a sample holder is provided that can rotate the sample. Further, a z-axis motion stage is also provided that is used to control distance between the sample and the scintillator.

The invention provides methods and apparatus for detecting radiation including x-ray, gamma ray, and particle radiation for nuclear medicine, radiopaphic imaging, material composition analysis, high energy physics, container inspection, mine detection and astronomy. The invention provides detection systems employing one or more detector modules (102) comprising edge-on scintillator detectors (101) with sub-aperture resolution (SAR) capability employed, e.g., in nuclear medicine, such as radiation therapy portal imaging, nuclear remediation, mine detection, container inspection, and high energy physics and astronomy. The invention also provides edge-on imaging probe detectors for use in nuclear medicine, such as radiation therapy portal imaging, or for use in nuclear remediation, mine detection, container inspection, and high energy physics and astronomy.

In the present invention there is a provided an array of radiation detectors comprising at least one detector capable of detecting both low and high energy gamma radiation and adapted to provide spectrometric identification of the gamma source; at least one detector capable of detecting and providing spectrometric identification of fast neutrons and low resolution gamma spectra; at least one detector adapted to detect thermal neutrons; and, at least one plastic scintillator to give enhanced gamma ray sensitivity.

A method of fabricating an apparatus for an enhanced imaging sensor consisting of pixellated micro columnar scintillation film material for x-ray imaging comprising a scintillation substrate and a micro columnar scintillation film material in contact with the scintillation substrate. The micro columnar scintillation film material is formed from a doped scintillator material. According to the invention, the micro columnar scintillation film material is subdivided into arrays of optically independent pixels having interpixel gaps between the optically independent pixels. These optically independent pixels channel detectable light to a detector element thereby reducing optical crosstalk between the pixels providing for an X-ray converter capable of increasing efficiency without the associated loss of spatial resolution. The interpixel gaps are further filled with a dielectric and or reflective material to substantially reduce optical crosstalk and enhance light collection efficiency.

A radiation detection apparatus of the present invention includes an optical detector disposed on a substrate and having a plurality of photoelectric conversion elements which convert light into an electrical signal, and a scintillator layer disposed on the optical detector and having a columnar crystal structure which converts radiation into light, wherein the concentration of an activator of the scintillator layer is higher at the radiation incident side opposite the optical detector and is lower at the optical detector side. The scintillator panel of the present invention includes the substrate and the scintillator layer disposed on the substrate, wherein the concentration of the activator of the scintillator layer is higher at the radiation incident side and is lower at the light emission side.

A method and apparatus for discriminating the types of radiation interacting with an integrated radiation detector having of a pulse-mode operating photosensor which is optically coupled to a gamma-ray scintillator sensor and a neutron scintillator sensor and uses an analog to digital converter (ADC) and a charge to digital converter (QDC) to determine scintillation decay times and classify radiation interactions by radiation type. The pulse processing provides for, among other things, faithful representation of the true energy spectrum of the gamma radiation field and allows for radioisotope identification by searching for the presence of characteristic energy lines in the gamma energy spectrum. The pulse shape discrimination method ensures that the high sensitivity and resolution of the isotope identification function is not affected during operation in mixed neutron-gamma fields.

The invention is directed to a method and apparatus for timing calibration in a PET scanner. According to one embodiment, the invention relates to a method for timing calibration in a PET scanner having a plurality of scintillator blocks. The method comprises: detecting, in a first scintillator block, a first radiation event, wherein the first scintillator block time-stamps the first radiation event; detecting, in a second scintillator block that is adjacent to the first scintillator block, a second radiation event that corresponds to the first radiation event, wherein the second scintillator block time-stamps the second radiation event; and determining a timing characteristic of the first scintillator block with respect to the second scintillator block based on a comparison between the time-stamps of the first radiation event and the second radiation event.

A scintillator crystal represented by the following general formula (1).

Ln_(1−y)Ce_yX₃:M   (1)

wherein Ln_(1−y)Ce_yX₃ represents the chemical composition of the matrix material, Ln represents one or more elements selected from the group consisting of rare earth elements, X represents one or more elements selected from the group consisting of halogen elements, M is the constituent element of the dopant which is doped in the matrix material and represents one or more elements selected from the group consisting of Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs, Al, Zn, Ga, Be, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba, Sc, Ge, Ti, V, Cu, Nb, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Mo, Ru, Rh, Pb, Ag, Cd, In, Sn, Sb, Ta, W, Re, Os, Ir, Pt, Au, Hg, Tl and Bi, and y represents a numerical value satisfying the condition represented by the following inequality (A):

0.0001≦y≦1.   (A)