The Detection of Ionizing Radiation by Plasma Panel Sensors: Cosmic Muons, Ion Beams and Cancer Therapy

The plasma panel sensor is an ionizing photon and particle radiation detector derived from PDP technology with high gain and nanosecond response. Experimental results in detecting cosmic ray muons and beta particles from radioactive sources are described along with applications including high energy and nuclear physics, homeland security and cancer therapeuticsComment: Presented at SID Symposium, June 201

Plasma Panel Sensors for Particle and Beam Detection

The plasma panel sensor (PPS) is an inherently digital, high gain, novel variant of micropattern gas detectors inspired by many operational and fabrication principles common to plasma display panels (PDPs). The PPS is comprised of a dense array of small, plasma discharge, gas cells within a hermetically-sealed glass panel, and is assembled from non-reactive, intrinsically radiation-hard materials such as glass substrates, metal electrodes and mostly inert gas mixtures. We are developing the technology to fabricate these devices with very low mass and small thickness, using gas gaps of at least a few hundred micrometers. Our tests with these devices demonstrate a spatial resolution of about 1 mm. We intend to make PPS devices with much smaller cells and the potential for much finer position resolutions. Our PPS tests also show response times of several nanoseconds. We report here our results in detecting betas, cosmic-ray muons, and our first proton beam tests.Comment: 2012 IEEE NS

Fusion of radioactive 132^{132}Sn with 64^{64}Ni

Evaporation residue and fission cross sections of radioactive $^{132}$Sn on $^{64}$Ni were measured near the Coulomb barrier. A large sub-barrier fusion enhancement was observed. Coupled-channel calculations including inelastic excitation of the projectile and target, and neutron transfer are in good agreement with the measured fusion excitation function. When the change in nuclear size and shift in barrier height are accounted for, there is no extra fusion enhancement in $^{132}$Sn+$^{64}$Ni with respect to stable Sn+$^{64}$Ni. A systematic comparison of evaporation residue cross sections for the fusion of even $^{112-124}$Sn and $^{132}$Sn with $^{64}$Ni is presented.Comment: 9 pages, 11 figure