111 research outputs found
Time and position sensitive single photon detector for scintillator read-out
We have developed a photon counting detector system for combined neutron and
gamma radiography which can determine position, time and intensity of a
secondary photon flash created by a high-energy particle or photon within a
scintillator screen. The system is based on a micro-channel plate
photomultiplier concept utilizing image charge coupling to a position- and
time-sensitive read-out anode placed outside the vacuum tube in air, aided by a
standard photomultiplier and very fast pulse-height analyzing electronics. Due
to the low dead time of all system components it can cope with the high
throughput demands of a proposed combined fast neutron and dual discrete energy
gamma radiography method (FNDDER). We show tests with different types of
delay-line read-out anodes and present a novel pulse-height-to-time converter
circuit with its potential to discriminate gamma energies for the projected
FNDDER devices for an automated cargo container inspection system (ACCIS).Comment: Proceedings of FNDA 201
The seasonal cycle and variability of sea level in the South China Sea
The spatial and temporal characteristics of the seasonal sea level cycle in the South China Sea (SCS) and its forcing mechanisms are investigated using tide gauge records and satellite altimetry observations along with steric and meteorological data. The coastal mean annual amplitude of the seasonal cycle varies between zero and 24 cm, reaching a maximum between July and January. The maximum mean semiannual amplitude is 7 cm, peaking between March and June. Along the coast, the seasonal cycle accounts for up to 92% of the mean monthly sea level variability. Atmospheric pressure explains a significant portion of the seasonal cycle with dominant annual signals in the northern SCS, the Gulf of Thailand and the north-western Philippines Sea. The wind forcing is dominant on the shelf areas of the SCS and the Gulf of Thailand where a simple barotropic model forced by the local wind shows annual amplitudes of up to 27 cm. In the deep basin of the SCS, the Philippines Sea and the shallow Malacca Strait, the steric component is the major contributor with the maximum annual amplitudes reaching 15 cm. Significant variability in the seasonal cycle is found on a year-to-year basis. The annual and semiannual amplitudes vary by up to 63% and 45% of the maximum values, 15 cm and 11 cm, respectively. On average, stepwise regression analysis of contribution of different forcing factors accounts for 66% of the temporal variability of the annual cycle. The zonal wind was found to exert considerable influence in the Malacca Strait
Monte-Carlo Simulations of Radiation-Induced Activation in a Fast-Neutron and Gamma- Based Cargo Inspection System
An air cargo inspection system combining two nuclear reaction based
techniques, namely Fast-Neutron Resonance Radiography and Dual-Discrete-Energy
Gamma Radiography is currently being developed. This system is expected to
allow detection of standard and improvised explosives as well as special
nuclear materials. An important aspect for the applicability of nuclear
techniques in an airport inspection facility is the inventory and lifetimes of
radioactive isotopes produced by the neutron and gamma radiation inside the
cargo, as well as the dose delivered by these isotopes to people in contact
with the cargo during and following the interrogation procedure. Using MCNPX
and CINDER90 we have calculated the activation levels for several typical
inspection scenarios. One example is the activation of various metal samples
embedded in a cotton-filled container. To validate the simulation results, a
benchmark experiment was performed, in which metal samples were activated by
fast-neutrons in a water-filled glass jar. The induced activity was determined
by analyzing the gamma spectra. Based on the calculated radioactive inventory
in the container, the dose levels due to the induced gamma radiation were
calculated at several distances from the container and in relevant time windows
after the irradiation, in order to evaluate the radiation exposure of the cargo
handling staff, air crew and passengers during flight. The possibility of
remanent long-lived radioactive inventory after cargo is delivered to the
client is also of concern and was evaluated.Comment: Proceedings of FNDA 201
Proof of principle of a high-spatial-resolution, resonant-response gamma-ray detector for Gamma Resonance Absorption in 14N
The development of a mm-spatial-resolution, resonant-response detector based
on a micrometric glass capillary array filled with liquid scintillator is
described. This detector was developed for Gamma Resonance Absorption (GRA) in
14N. GRA is an automatic-decision radiographic screening technique that
combines high radiation penetration (the probe is a 9.17 MeV gamma ray) with
very good sensitivity and specificity to nitrogenous explosives. Detailed
simulation of the detector response to electrons and protons generated by the
9.17 MeV gamma-rays was followed by a proof-of-principle experiment, using a
mixed gamma-ray and neutron source. Towards this, a prototype capillary
detector was assembled, including the associated filling and readout systems.
Simulations and experimental results indeed show that proton tracks are
distinguishable from electron tracks at relevant energies, on the basis of a
criterion that combines track length and light intensity per unit length.Comment: 18 pages, 16 figure
An Optical Readout TPC (O-TPC) for Studies in Nuclear Astrophysics With Gamma-Ray Beams at HIgS
We report on the construction, tests, calibrations and commissioning of an
Optical Readout Time Projection Chamber (O-TPC) detector operating with a
CO2(80%) + N2(20%) gas mixture at 100 and 150 Torr. It was designed to measure
the cross sections of several key nuclear reactions involved in stellar
evolution. In particular, a study of the rate of formation of oxygen and carbon
during the process of helium burning will be performed by exposing the chamber
gas to intense nearly mono-energetic gamma-ray beams at the High Intensity
Gamma Source (HIgS) facility. The O-TPC has a sensitive target-drift volume of
30x30x21 cm^3. Ionization electrons drift towards a double parallel grid
avalanche multiplier, yielding charge multiplication and light emission.
Avalanche induced photons from N2 emission are collected, intensified and
recorded with a Charge Coupled Device (CCD) camera, providing two-dimensional
track images. The event's time projection (third coordinate) and the deposited
energy are recorded by photomultipliers and by the TPC charge-signal,
respectively. A dedicated VME-based data acquisition system and associated data
analysis tools were developed to record and analyze these data. The O-TPC has
been tested and calibrated with 3.183 MeV alpha-particles emitted by a 148Gd
source placed within its volume with a measured energy resolution of 3.0%.
Tracks of alpha and 12C particles from the dissociation of 16O and of three
alpha-particles from the dissociation of 12C have been measured during initial
in-beam test experiments performed at the HIgS facility at Duke University. The
full detection system and its performance are described and the results of the
preliminary in-beam test experiments are reported.Comment: Supported by the Richard F. Goodman Yale-Weizmann Exchange Program,
ACWIS, NY, and USDOE grant Numbers: DE-FG02-94ER40870 and DE-FG02-97ER4103
THGEM operation in Ne and Ne/CH4
The operation of Thick Gaseous Electron Multipliers (THGEM) in Ne and Ne/CH4
mixtures, features high multiplication factors at relatively low operation
potentials, in both single- and double-THGEM configurations. We present some
systematic data measured with UV-photons and soft x-rays, in various Ne
mixtures. It includes gain dependence on hole diameter and gas purity,
photoelectron extraction efficiency from CsI photocathodes into the gas,
long-term gain stability and pulse rise-time. Position resolution of a 100x100
mm^2 X-rays imaging detector is presented. Possible applications are discussed.Comment: Submitted to JINST, 25 pages, 33 figure
Persistent acceleration in global sea-level rise since the 1960s
Previous studies reconstructed twentieth-century global mean sea level (GMSL) from sparse tide-gauge records to understand whether the recent high rates obtained from satellite altimetry are part of a longer-term acceleration. However, these analyses used techniques that can only accurately capture either the trend or the variability in GMSL, but not both. Here we present an improved hybrid sea-level reconstruction during 1900–2015 that combines previous techniques at time scales where they perform best. We find a persistent acceleration in GMSL since the 1960s and demonstrate that this is largely (~76%) associated with sea-level changes in the Indo-Pacific and South Atlantic. We show that the initiation of the acceleration in the 1960s is tightly linked to an intensification and a basin-scale equatorward shift of Southern Hemispheric westerlies, leading to increased ocean heat uptake, and hence greater rates of GMSL rise, through changes in the circulation of the Southern Ocean
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