Charge and current-sensitive preamplifiers for pulse shape discrimination techniques with silicon detectors

New charge and current-sensitive preamplifiers coupled to silicon detectors and devoted to studies in nuclear structure and dynamics have been developed and tested. For the first time shapes of current pulses from light charged particles and carbon ions are presented. Capabilities for pulse shape discrimination techniques are demonstrated.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures, to be published in Nucl. Inst. Meth.

Prompt Gamma Neutron Activation Analysis with Gamma-Gamma Coincidences for Recycling Waste Characterization

International audienceIn the field of circular economy, the detection of strategic elements is required to design and build efficient recycling processes. For instance, the recycling of Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) could provide an important supply of several critical elements. Prompt Gamma Neutron Activation Analysis (PGNAA) with a pulsed neutron generator and a high-purity germanium detector (HPGe) allows elemental characterization of bulk samples, but the gamma spectrum includes a large background due to neutron interactions in surrounding materials. Furthermore, the limited HPGe volume only permits a small detection efficiency. The use of large size NaI(Tl) scintillators allows covering wider detection solid angles at reasonable cost, but with a lower energy resolution. In this work, we investigate the use of gamma-gamma coincidences following radiative capture to counterbalance this latter drawback by limiting the neutron-induced gamma ray background. This work describes the implementation of a dedicated PGNAA setup to study gamma-gamma coincidences with a DT pulsed neutron generator and 5"×5"×10" NaI(Tl) scintillators. The setup is optimized with different geometries and shields, such as lead bricks to limit scattering cross talk or B4C sheets to reduce thermal neutron interactions inside the NaI crystals. Optimized data processing also allows rejecting residual cross talk events and random coincidences to maximize the signal/noise ratio

An On-line Monitor for Fluence Distributions and Imaging of Scanning Ion Beams

International audienceClinical applications of hadron beams have generated a wide development of radiobiology experiments, especially at GANIL (Grand Accélérateur National d'Ions Lourds), an ion accelerator in Caen. Biological samples are irradiated with ions in order to observe the induced biological effects. As these observations have to be related to the fluence distribution, an on-line beam monitor has been developed in order to measure and image fluence maps of each biological sample irradiation with a 1% uncertainty. This beam monitor has been tested with different types of ions at several energies and for intensities from 10$^{4}$ to 10$^{9}$ ions per second

Heavy ion beams monitoring for radiobiology applications

Expérience GANILInternational audienceWe describe the design and the construction of an on-line ion beam monitor. The device provides accurate measurements for radiobiology experiments currently held at GANIL (Grand Accélérateur National d'Ions Lourds) in France. A prototype named IBIS (Ion Beam Inspection System) has been tested at GANIL with Ne (13.7 A.MeV), O (8.37 A.MeV), C (9.07 A.MeV and 11.12 A.MeV) and Ar (95 A.MeV) beams from 105 to 108 pps. IBIS can provide fluence maps for each biological irradiation with a 2 % uncertainty. It can also be used as a beam imaging device in order to study depth distributions and profiles of the light produced by ions in a plastic scintillator

Characterization and performances of DOSION, a dosimetry equipment dedicated to radiobiology experiments taking place at GANIL

International audienceCurrently,radiobiology experiments using heavy ions at GANIL GrandAccélérateurNationald’IonsLourds) are conducted under the supervision of the CIMAP (Center for research on Ions, MAterials and Photonics). In this context, a new beam monitoring equipment named DOSION has been developed. It allows to perform measurements of accurate fluence and dose maps in near real time for each biological sample irradiated. In this paper, we present the detection system, its design, performances, calibration protocol and measurements performed during radiobiology experiments. This setup is currently available for any radiobiology experiments if one wishes to correlate one’s own sample analysis to state of the art dosimetric references