Opaque Scintillator Detector Development Capital Equipment 2022

许多辐射探测器使用闪烁体，闪烁体是当伽马射线等辐射照射到闪烁体时发出光的材料。传统上，闪烁体一直是透明的，这对于探测光线是必要的。在这个项目中应用的新概念是使用不透明闪烁体和光纤电缆格子的组合。这种不透明度导致光线在产生光线的地方附近反弹，然后纤维提取光线。这种配置使高分辨率成像能力能够以潜在的较低成本实现。这种类型的探测器的一个特别有前途的应用是探测被称为中微子的不可见的、近无质量的粒子。物理学中最紧迫的问题之一是，为什么宇宙是由物质而不是反物质组成的。最近在中微子振荡方面的发现表明，我们有办法帮助回答这个问题：我们可以精确地比较中微子和反中微子的振荡，看看它们是否不同。为了进行所需的精确测量，我们必须了解中微子与物质相互作用的所有重要方式，而我们还没有做到这一点。我们需要更精确的探测器，能够准确跟踪中微子相互作用时产生的所有高能粒子。除了基础物理，这种类型的探测器可能会带来更好、更低成本的医学成像系统，以及使用Muon断层成像的非破坏性成像。这笔赠款将使我们能够购买一台3D打印机，它可以生产出与铝具有相同结构特性的部件。这将使我们能够快速制作探测器组件的原型并生产出光纤放置和保持所需的精细细节，并具有在光纤张力下保持尺寸稳定性的结构强度。我们还将购买矢量网络分析仪(VNA)。这项工作是由我们的STFC综合拨款支持的苏塞克斯实验粒子物理小组探测器研发活动的一部分(ST/S000798/1,2019年10月-2022年9月；ST/W000512/1,2022年10月-2025年9月)。

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 being 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 potentially lower cost.A particularly promising application for this type of detector is in detection of invisible, near-massless particles called neutrinos. One of the most pressing questions in physics is why the universe is comprised of matter and not anti-matter. Recent discoveries in neutrino oscillations have shown that we have a way to help answer this question: we can precisely compare the oscillations of neutrinos and antineutrinos to see if they are different. To make the precise measurements needed, we have to understand all the important ways that neutrinos interact with matter and we haven't got there yet. We need more precise detectors, able to accurately track all the high-energy particles that are produced when neutrinos interact. Besides fundamental physics, this type of detector can potentially lead to better and lower cost medical imaging systems and non-destructive imaging with muon tomography.The funds in this grant will allow us to purchase a 3D printer that can produce parts with the same structural properties as aluminium. This will allow us to rapidly prototype and produce detector components with fine details necessary for optical fibre placement and holding, with structural strength to maintain dimensional stability under fibre tension. We will also purchase a vector network analyser (VNA). This electronics equipment will be used to test and characterise high speed amplifiers and other electronics that make up the light detection system for our detectors.This work is part of detector R&D activities in the Sussex Experimental Particle Physics group supported by our STFC Consolidated Grant (ST/S000798/1, Oct 2019-Sept 2022; ST/W000512/1, Oct 2022-Sept 2025).