I-Corps: NanoOptics - Highly efficient scintillator photonic devices for national security, medical imaging and high energy particle detection applications

I-Corps：纳米光学 - 用于国家安全、医学成像和高能粒子检测应用的高效闪烁体光子器件

• 批准号: 1536179
• 负责人: Alex Yi
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-04-01 至 2016-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1536179&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; NanoOptics; Highly; efficient; scintillator

Inorganic scintillators are widely used in modern medical imaging modalities (as converter for the x-rays and ã-radiation that are used to obtain information about the interior of the body, like x-ray, CT and PET scan), national security, airport security, and high energy particle detector. One key problem in the development of the next generation scintillator systems is the enhancement of the timing, positioning and energy resolution of the detectors. Most of the high-density scintillators have a high refractive index; only less than 10% of the light from the scintillator can enter into the photo detector. This seriously impacts the detection system's efficiency and detection sensitivity. This team has developed a novel class of nano-scale photonic structures that function as efficient light extraction devices for scintillator materials and devices. This is an emerging field and the proposed research has made the overall efficiency of these scintillator materials increase significantly.The unique properties of the nature-inspired nano-scale photonic structures allow one to engineer the output light beam shape, so that the angular behavior of the light can be controlled. This makes smaller pixel, higher imaging resolution possible for the next generation of integrated scintillator devices, with a variety of application possible in market areas including national security and medical imaging. This I-Corps team will work together to seek out market opportunities for commercialization of the innovation, discovering new and previously uncharted applications based on conversations with many potential customers throughout the United States.

无机闪烁体广泛应用于现代医学成像模式(作为X射线和辐射的转换器，用于获取有关身体内部的信息，如X射线、CT和PET扫描)、国家安全、机场安全和高能粒子探测器。发展下一代闪烁体系统的一个关键问题是提高探测器的定时、定位和能量分辨率。大多数高密度闪烁体的折射率都很高；只有不到10%的闪烁体光可以进入光探测器。这严重影响了检测系统的效率和检测灵敏度。该团队开发了一种新型的纳米级光子结构，可用作闪烁体材料和器件的高效光提取设备。这是一个新兴的领域，所提出的研究使这些闪烁体材料的整体效率显著提高。受自然启发的纳米级光子结构的独特性质使人们能够设计输出光束的形状，从而可以控制光的角度行为。这使得更小的像素、更高的成像分辨率成为下一代集成闪烁体设备的可能，并可能在包括国家安全和医疗成像在内的市场领域获得各种应用。这个i-Corps团队将共同努力，为这项创新的商业化寻找市场机会，根据与美国各地许多潜在客户的对话，发现以前未知的新应用。