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

Development of a plasma panel radiation detector: recent progress and key issues

A radiation detector based on plasma display panel technology, which is the principal component of plasma television displays is presented. Plasma Panel Sensor (PPS) technology is a variant of micropattern gas radiation detectors. The PPS is conceived as an array of sealed plasma discharge gas cells which can be used for fast response (O(5ns) per pixel), high spatial resolution detection (pixel pitch can be less than 100 micrometer) of ionizing and minimum ionizing particles. The PPS is assembled from non-reactive, intrinsically radiation-hard materials: glass substrates, metal electrodes and inert gas mixtures. We report on the PPS development program, including simulations and design and the first laboratory studies which demonstrate the usage of plasma display panels in measurements of cosmic ray muons, as well as the expansion of experimental results on the detection of betas from radioactive sources.Comment: presented at IEEE NSS 2011 (Barcelona

73.1: Large‐Area Plasma‐Panel Radiation Detectors for Nuclear Medicine Imaging to Homeland Security and the Super Large Hadron Collider

A new radiation sensor derived from plasma panel display technology is introduced. It has the capability to detect ionizing and non‐ionizing radiation over a wide energy range and the potential for use in many applications. The principle of operation is described and some early results presented.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/92058/1/1.3499840.pd

Plasma panel‐based radiation detectors

The plasma panel sensor (PPS) is a gaseous micropattern radiation detector under current development. It has many operational and fabrication principles common to plasma display panels. It comprises a dense matrix of small, gas plasma discharge cells within a hermetically sealed panel. As in plasma display panels, it uses nonreactive, intrinsically radiation‐hard materials such as glass substrates, refractory metal electrodes, and mostly inert gas mixtures. We are developing these devices primarily as thin, low‐mass detectors with gas gaps from a few hundred microns to a few millimeters. The PPS is a high gain, inherently digital device with the potential for fast response times, fine position resolution (<50‐µm RMS) and low cost. In this paper, we report on prototype PPS experimental results in detecting betas, protons, and cosmic muons, and we extrapolate on the PPS potential for applications including the detection of alphas, heavy ions at low‐to‐medium energy, thermal neutrons, and X‐rays.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/98325/1/jsid151.pd

The MATHUSLA Test Stand

The rate of muons from LHC $pp$ collisions reaching the surface above the ATLAS interaction point is measured and compared with expected rates from decays of $W$ and $Z$ bosons and $b$- and $c$-quark jets. In addition, data collected during periods without beams circulating in the LHC provide a measurement of the background from cosmic ray inelastic backscattering that is compared to simulation predictions. Data were recorded during 2018 in a 2.5 $\times$ 2.5 $\times$ 6.5~$\rm{m}^3$ active volume MATHUSLA test stand detector unit consisting of two scintillator planes, one at the top and one at the bottom, which defined the trigger, and six layers of RPCs between them, grouped into three $(x,y)$-measuring layers separated by 1.74 m from each other. Triggers selecting both upward-going tracks and downward-going tracks were used.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures, 1 tabl

A search for heavy Kaluza-Klein electroweak gauge bosons at the LHC

The feasibility for the observation of a certain leptonic Kaluza-Klein (KK) hard process in {\em pp} interactions at the LHC is presented. Within the $S^1/Z_2$ TeV$^{-1}$ extra dimensional theoretical framework with the focus on the KK excitations of the Standard Model $\gamma$ and $Z^0$ gauge bosons, the hard-process, $f\bar f \to \sum_n\left(\gamma^*/Z^*\right)_n \to F \bar F$, has been used where $f$ is the initial state parton, $F$ the final state lepton and $\left(\gamma^*/Z^*\right)_{n}$ is the $n^{\rm th}$ KK excitation of the $\gamma/Z^0$ boson. For this study the analytic form for the hard process cross section has been independently calculated by the authors and has been implemented using the {\sc Moses} framework. The Moses framework itself, that has been written by the authors, was used as an external process within the {\sc Pythia} Monte Carlo generator which provides the phase space generation for the final state leptons and partons from the initial state hadrons, and the simulation of initial and final state radiation and hadronization. A brief discussion of the possibility for observing and identifying the unique signature of the KK signal given the current LHC program is also presented.Comment: 16 pages 10 figures, MCnet number: MCnet/10/06, Accepted by JHE