Development of a high performance standoff radiation detection system (SORD)

探测核威胁是加拿大国家安全网的重要组成部分。能够在远距离探测到少量辐射在包括国土安全、海关和边境保护、核事故应急反应和战场军事任务在内的广泛应用中尤为重要。工具目前存在，但它们不是最优的。为了最大限度地利用目前可用于辐射响应的人力和资源，需要一种高灵敏度的辐射检测设备，它可以从远距离(~10-50米)快速确定辐射源项的类型和位置。对这种设备的基本要求是高灵敏度、高动态范围、低质量、具有光谱分析能力的便携式单元等。其中许多 在医学物理成像应用中广泛使用的辐射技术具有相同的要求，因此，有一个极好的机会来利用在医学物理领域发生的数十年的操作经验和优化。尤其令人感兴趣的是，正电子发射断层扫描(PET)等医学成像技术也需要在有限的空间中快速获取光谱和定向光子流量分布。这些要求转化为定向探测能力、高探测截面与体积比、高计数率能力和能量色散测量，所有这些都直接映射到智能辐射测绘设备(IRMD)的基本要求。我们的长期目标是开发一种使用新型闪烁体和硅光电倍增管(SiPM)的高性能远距离辐射探测系统(SORDS)，具有独特的相互作用深度(DOI)设计和空间定位算法。对于这架为期6个月的推进式喷气式飞机，交付的成果是证明基于SiPM的新型探测器模块的可行性。

The detection of nuclear threat is a critical component of Canada's national security network. Being able to detect small amounts of radiation at large distances is especially important in a wide range of applications including homeland security, customs and border protection, emergency response to nuclear accidents, and military tasks on the battlefield. Tools currently exist but they are sub-optimal. In order to optimally use the manpower and resources currently available for radiological response, a highly sensitive radiation detection device, which can rapidly determine the type and location of the radiation source term from a distant location (~10-50 meters), is desired. The basic requirements for such a device are high sensitivity, high dynamic range, low mass, portable unit with spectrographic capabilities among others. Many of these requirements are shared with radiation technology that is widely used in medical physics imaging applications and as a result, there is an excellent opportunity to capitalize on the decades of operational experience and optimization that has occurred in the medical physics area. Of particular interest is the fact that medical imaging techniques such as Positron Emission Tomography (PET) also require rapid acquisition of spectral and directional photon flux profiles in a confined space. These requirements translate into directional detection capability, high detection cross section to volume ratio, high-count rate capability and energy dispersive measurement, all of which map directly into the basic requirements of an Intelligent Radiation Mapping Device (IRMD). Our long-term goal is to develop a high performance standoff radiation detection system (SORDS) using novel scintillators and silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs), with unique depth-of-interaction (DOI) design and spatial localization algorithm. For this 6-month propjet, the deliverable is to prove the feasibility of a novel SiPM-based detector module.