RADIATION DETECTION AND NUCLEAR INSTRUMENTATION LABORATORY

Kai Vetter
Nuclear Engineering UC Berkeley Phone: (510) 642 7071 Email: [email protected]

NE-104

Class web site: http://www.nuc.berkeley.edu/dept/Courses/NE-104A/NE104A.html. Announcements, useful course information, and downloadable documents will be available on the web site. Some experiments may also require the use of databases and programs available through the web site.
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Overview and Objective

Introduction of
Principles of radiation detection and measurements Experimental radiation detection and neutronics

Basics in radiation detection with hands-on experience performing simple lab experiments Field trips (as part of lab course)
McClellan Nuclear Radiation Center (UC Davis)

Invited lectures on advanced topics in radiation detection and applications (as part of the lectures)

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Radiation Detection & Measurements

Literature
Text
Glenn F. Knoll, Radiation Detection and Measurements, 3rd ed. John Wiley and Sons, New York (2000)

Also

William R. Leo, Techniques for Nuclear and Particle Physics Experiments, 2nd ed. Springer, Berlin (1994) James E. Turner, Atoms, Radiation, and Radiation Protection, 2nd ed. John Wiley and Sons, New York (1995)
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Research Opportunities
Examples:
UC Berkeley Nuclear Engineering
Academic Research Initiative grants from Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) Undergraduate and graduate levels (as well as postdocs) LLNL http://www-cmls.llnl.gov/?url=jobs_and_educationglenn_t_seaborg_institute-summer_internships ) Get in touch with Nancy Hutcheon ([email protected]) LBNL: Ask me later DHS/ DNDO (http://www.orau.gov/dhsed/ )
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Summer internships at National Labs

Fellowships:
Spring 2011

What needs to be done today?

Schedule Lab Courses (1110B Etcheverry Hall) Introduce Teaching Assistants Coursework and Grading Laboratory Procedures Overview - Lab Experiments and Tours Overview Lectures Quiz 1st Lecture Introduction or What is ionizing radiation and its detection about?
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Organize lab course (1110B Etcheverry Hall)! 3 lab course sections needed to accommodate all students Currently scheduled:

101 Wednesday 1pm-5pm 102 Monday 1pm-5pm Find lab partner(s) by next Wednesday

In addition to two 1-hour lectures

Mondays and Wednesdays 9am-10am, 81 Evans Hall

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Radiation Detection & Measurements

Instructors
Instructor
Kai Vetter ([email protected])

2-3 Graduate Student Instructors

Ross Barnowski ([email protected]) Robert Crabbs ([email protected]) Laurence Lewis ([email protected])

2 Graduate Lab Assitance

Tim Aucott ([email protected]) Brian Plimley ([email protected])
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Coursework/ Grading
Attendance of Lectures and Labs required Problem Sets (10%) Reports (45%) Technical Presentation (10%) Log Books (5%) Final Exam (25%) Performance (5%)

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Laboratory Procedure
Partners Log Books Lab Reports Write Ups Technical Presentations Working independently, together

Safety: 1st lab course (Wednesday, 26 Jan) is introduction with safety lecture for all to attend!
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Lab Experiments and Tours

1. Oscilloscopes and pulse-detection electronics (2 weeks) 2. Geiger counters--voltage plateau and dead time 3. Silicon semiconductor detectors--counting statistics, beta-ray attenuation, half-life measurement 4. Stopping power and range of alpha particles 5. Gamma-ray spectroscopy with Ge detectors 6. Time coincidences, time resolution, Compton scattering 7. Neutron activation analysis with Ge detectors 8. Neutron detection 9. Subcritical assembly 10.McClellan Nuclear Radiation Center field trip

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Lectures - Contents
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. Introduction to radiation detection Sources of radiation Radiation interactions Pulse processing electronics I. (basics and signal shaping, energy) Pulse processing electronics II. (timing, coincidences, position, particle identification) Uncertainty/ error analysis, data reporting Counting statistics/ dead time Gas-filled detectors: Introduction & ion chambers Proportional counters, GM counters, Position sensitive gas detectors: Drift detectors and time projection chamber Semiconductor detectors, p-n junction diodes Ge and Si detectors Alternative solid-state detectors Miscellaneous detector types Gamma-ray spectroscopy and applications Scintillation detectors Slow neutron detection Fast neutron detection Neutron dosimetry Subcritical assembly Invited lecture
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Prelim Quiz

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I. Radiation and Radiation Detection

Radiation is everywhere (electromagnetic radiation)!!
E.g. background radiation (Nobel Prize in Physics 2006, George Smoot, Berkeley)

However, focus here is ionizing radiation: 10 eV - 10 MeV Primarily from processes within the atomic nucleus, potentially inducing processes in the atomic shell Radioactivity
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Radioactivity
Unstable atomic nuclei emitting subatomic particles (radiation)

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Nuclear-Free?

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Types of Ionizing Radiation

Charged particulate radiation
Fast electrons and positrons (e-/e+ or particles) Heavy charged particles (A1, protons, particles, fission fragments)

Uncharged radiation
Electromagnetic radiation (photons/ X rays, rays) Neutrons (slow/fast, (ultra-)cold/hot)

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Interaction of Ionizing Radiation with Matter

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Characteristics of radiation
Radiation hardness or penetrability

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Penetrability
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The Electromagnetic Spectrum

Of interest for us
4x109 4x107 4x105 4x103 4x101 4x10-1 4x10-3 4x10-5

Increasing Energy
4x10-7 4x10-9 4x10-11 4x10-13 4x10-15 E(eV)

~ 1 keV < E < 1GeV

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Quick Historical Review on Radiation & Instrumentation

1895 Wilhelm Roentgen discovers X-rays (from cathode rays) 1896 Henri Becquerel discovers radioactivity (of Uranium) 1898 Marie and Pierre Curie isolate polonium and radium 1899 Ernest Rutherford finds and radiation emitted from Uranium 1900 Paul Villard discovers rays emitted from radium 1905 Albert Einstein explains photoelectric effect 1908 Hans Geiger develops Geiger counter (w/ Rutherford) 1911 Ernest Rutherford discovers atomic nucleus (Geiger/ Marsden experiment) 1911 Charles Wilson invents cloud chamber 1922 Victor Hess discovers cosmic rays 1922 Arthur Compton discovers Compton effect 1924 Luis de Broglie wavelength 1929 Van de Graaf generator demonstrated 1930 Ernest Lawrence invents cyclotron 1932 Carl Anderson discovers positron 1932 James Chadwick discovers neutron 1934 Joliot-Curie and Joliot produce artificial radioactivity 1939 Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann observe nuclear fission with Lise Meitner and Otto Frisch providing theoretical description 1942 Enrico Fermi first nuclear chain reaction 1948 Robert Hofstadter discovers NaI(Tl) scintillator 1952 Donald Glaser invents the bubble chamber 1953 First PET imaging reported by Brownell and Sweet 1957 Hal Anger invents gamma or Anger camera 1958 Cerenkov describes describes Cerenkov radiation 1960 First Si detector 1962 First Ge(Li) detector 1963 First SPECT demonstration by Kuhl and Edwards 1968 Georges Charpak invents the multi-wire proportional chamber (MWPC)

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Examples of Technical Uses of Ionizing Radiation and Radiation Detection

Radiography/ tomography by means of gamma or X rays (attenuation/ absorption) Smoke detectors Radioactive labels and tracers (biology and chemistry) Materials analysis Archaeology Mining (petroleum exploration) Nuclear non-proliferation and homeland security Medicine (gamma-ray emission tomography)
Drug development Nuclear medicine (cancer diagnosis and treatment)
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Examples of Scientific Uses of Ionizing Radiation and Radiation Detection

Geophysics Atomic Physics (1-100 keV) Nuclear Physics (10keV 20 MeV)
Gammasphere"

ATLAS"

Particle Physics (10 keV TeV)

Advanced Compton Telescope"

Astrophysics (10 keV EeV)

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General Principles of Radiation Detection

Radiation detection
Interaction of radiation with matter produces ionization and radiation electronic excitation or heat that can be measured: Either primary charges are collected: Ionization chamber
Gas detectors Solid state detectors
Detector
*+ + +* *

Ions, electrons, excited atoms

Scattered radiation

Proportional counter Geiger-Muller counter

Si, Ge, CdZnTe, HgI2,

Or photons resulting from deexcitation of molecules of the detector are converted to secondary charges which are collected:
Scintillators
Spring 2011

Inorganic NaI(Tl), CsI(Tl), LaBr, BGO, Organic anthracence, stilbene, plastic,

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Signal Processing and analysis

Amplification & pulse-shaping
Convert detector output current in output voltage Ideal system: Vout qin Edeposited

Processing
Counting Sorting by time Sorting by amplitude

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Properties of Radiation Detection Systems Sensitivity Efficiency Energy resolution Time resolution Pulse-pair resolution Position resolution

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Data Sources - Organizations

USA
NNDC National Nuclear Data Center, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD RSICC Radiation Safety Information Computational Center, Oak Ridge, TN NEA Nuclear Energy Agency Data Bank, Issyles-Moulineaux, France International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria
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International
IAEA

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Data Sources - NNDC

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Data Sources - NIST

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Data Sources - RSICC

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Some General-Purpose Monte-Carlo Codes

MCNP (comes in various flavors) coupled neutron, photon, electron transport
http://www.rsicc.ornl.gov

EGSnrc or EGS4 coupled photon, electron transport

http://www.irs.inms.nrc.ca/EGSnrc.html

GEANT object-oriented code for treating various radiation types over broad energy ranges (<1keV -> TeV)

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Other General-Purpose Monte-Carlo Codes PENELOPE coupled photon, electron transport

http://www.nea.fr/html/dbprog/peneloperef.html

MCSHAPE photon transport accounting for polarization

http://shape.ing.unibo.it

SRIM Stopping and Range of Ions in Matter; performs heavy charged particle transport and contains extensive stopping power data
http://www.srim.org
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Advances in Radiation Detection vs. Discoveries and new applications

Advances in Radiation Retection

Scientific Discoveries/ New Applications

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