Opaque Scintillator Detector Development Capital Equipment

该项目的研究旨在开发一种新型的辐射探测器技术，该技术有可能大大提高中微子探测实验中的粒子识别和能量重建。这项新技术还显示了医疗成像领域的前景，允许以更具成本效益的方式构建性能大幅提高的设备。在医学上，放射性示踪剂通常被注射到血流中用于成像目的。最常用的一种是基于葡萄糖的，葡萄糖优先被癌症肿瘤或身体的其他活动部位吸收，从而集中放射性。使用通过发射正电子而衰变的放射性同位素，因为与电子的湮灭产生两个0.51 MeV的伽马射线，这两个射线以相反的方向（背靠背）发射，并且通常从身体逃逸。图像可以通过记录数千甚至数百万次放射性衰变中伽马射线的位置和时间来形成。这是正电子发射断层扫描（PET）扫描仪中使用的技术。这些扫描仪的需求正在增长，但其高昂的价格（通常每台扫描仪150万英镑）是限制其可用性的一个因素。用于探测伽马射线的闪烁晶体占成本的很大一部分。该项目的目标是开发一种新的不透明闪烁体探测器，以更经济的方式构建更大，更高性能的扫描仪。许多辐射探测器使用闪烁体，这是一种当伽马射线等辐射击中它们时会发光的材料。传统上，反射器总是透明的，这是允许检测光所必需的。将在该项目中应用的新概念是使用不透明闪烁体和光纤电缆网格的组合。这种不透明性使光线在靠近产生光线的地方反弹，然后纤维提取光线。这样的配置能够以较低的成本实现高分辨率成像能力。

The research in this project aims to develop a novel radiation detector technology that has potential to greatly enhance particle identification and energy reconstruction in neutrino detection experiments. This new technology also shows promise for the field of medical imaging by allowing devices with substantially improved performance to be built in a more cost-effective way. In medicine radioactive tracers are routinely injected into the blood stream for imaging purposes. The most commonly used one is based on glucose, which is preferentially taken up by cancer tumours or other active parts of the body thus concentrating the radioactivity. Radioisotopes that decay by emitting positrons are used since the annihilation with electrons gives rise to two 0.51 MeV gamma rays that are emitted in opposite directions (back-to-back) and typically escape from the body. Images can be formed by recording the positions and times of the gammas from thousands, or even millions, of radioactive decays. This is the technique used in a Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanner. These scanners are growing in demand yet their high price (typically £1.5 million per scanner) is a factor that limits their availability. The scintillation crystals used to detect the gamma rays are a substantial fraction of the cost. The objective of this project is to develop a new opaque scintillator detector that will allow larger, higher performance scanners to be built in a more cost-effective way.Many radiation detectors use scintillators, which are materials that give off light when radiation such as gamma rays hits them. Traditionally, scintillators have always been transparent, and this was necessary to allow detection of the light. The new concept that will be applied in this project is to use the combination of an opaque scintillator and a lattice of fibre optic cables. The opacity causes the light to bounce around close to where it is produced and then the fibres extract the light. Such a configuration enables high-resolution imaging capabilities at a lower cost.