Performance studies of scintillating ceramic samples exposed to ionizing radiation

Scintillating ceramics are a promising, new development for various applications in science and industry. Their application in calorimetry for particle physics experiments is expected to involve an exposure to high levels of ionizing radiation. In this paper, changes in performance have been measured for scintillating ceramic samples of different composition after exposure to penetrating ionizing radiation up to a dose of 38 kGy.Comment: 6 pages, 8 figures, to be published in the 2012 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium Conference Recor

False Positives in Credit Card Fraud Detection: Measurement and Mitigation

Credit Card Fraud Detection is a classification problem where different types of classification errors cause different costs. Previous works quantified the financial impact of data-driven fraud detection classifiers using a cost-matrix based evaluation approach, however, none of them considered the significant financial impact of false declines. Analysts reported that fraud prediction in e-commerce still has to deal with false positive rates of 30-70%, and many cardholders reduce card usage after being wrongly declined. In our paper, we propose a new method for assessing the cost of false declines and evaluate several state-of-the-art fraud detection classifiers using this method. Further, we investigate the effectiveness of ensemble learning as previous work supposed that a combination of diverse, individual classifiers can improve performance. Our results show that cost-based evaluation yields valuable insights for practitioners and that our ensemble learning strategy indeed cuts fraud cost by almost 30%

Three-dimensional charge transport mapping by two-photon absorption edge transient-current technique in synthetic single-crystalline diamond

We demonstrate the application of two-photon absorption transient current technique to wide bandgap semiconductors. We utilize it to probe charge transport properties of single-crystal Chemical Vapor Deposition (scCVD) diamond. The charge carriers, inside the scCVD diamond sample, are excited by a femtosecond laser through simultaneous absorption of two photons. Due to the nature of two-photon absorption, the generation of charge carriers is confined in space (3-D) around the focal point of the laser. Such localized charge injection allows to probe the charge transport properties of the semiconductor bulk with a fine-grained 3-D resolution. Exploiting spatial confinement of the generated charge, the electrical field of the diamond bulk was mapped at different depths and compared to an X-ray diffraction topograph of the sample. Measurements utilizing this method provide a unique way of exploring spatial variations of charge transport properties in transparent wide-bandgap semiconductors.Comment: This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and AIP Publishing. The following article appeared in Applied Physics Letters and may be found at https://doi.org/10.1063/1.509085

A visualization of the damage in Lead Tungstate calorimeter crystals after exposure to high-energy hadrons

The anticipated performance of calorimeter crystals in the environment expected after the planned High-Luminosity upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) at CERN has to be well understood, before informed decisions can be made on the need for detector upgrades. Throughout the years of running at the HL-LHC, the detectors will be exposed to considerable fluences of fast hadrons, that have been shown to cause cumulative transparency losses in Lead Tungstate scintillating crystals. In this study, we present direct evidence of the main underlying damage mechanism. Results are shown from a test that yields a direct insight into the nature of the hadron-specific damage in Lead Tungstate calorimeter crystals exposed to 24 GeV/c protons.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure

Proof-of-principle of a new geometry for sampling calorimetry using inorganic scintillator plates

A novel geometry for a sampling calorimeter employing inorganic scintillators as an active medium is presented. To overcome the mechanical challenges of construction, an innovative light collection geometry has been pioneered, that minimises the complexity of construction. First test results are presented, demonstrating a successful signal extraction. The geometry consists of a sampling calorimeter with passive absorber layers interleaved with layers of an active medium made of inorganic scintillating crystals. Wavelength-shifting (WLS) fibres run along the four long, chamfered edges of the stack, transporting the light to photodetectors at the rear. To maximise the amount of scintillation light reaching the WLS fibres, the scintillator chamfers are depolished. It is shown herein that this concept is working for cerium fluoride (CeF$_3$) as a scintillator. Coupled to it, several different types of materials have been tested as WLS medium. In particular, materials that might be sufficiently resistant to the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider radiation environment, such as cerium-doped Lutetium-Yttrium Orthosilicate (LYSO) and cerium-doped quartz, are compared to conventional plastic WLS fibres. Finally, an outlook is presented on the possible optimisation of the different components, and the construction and commissioning of a full calorimeter cell prototype is presented.Comment: Submitted to Proceedings CALOR 2014, the 16th International Conference on Calorimetry in High-Energy Physics, Giessen (Germany) 6 - 11 April 2014. To be published in Journal of Physics: Conference Series (10 pages, 15 figures

Progress in diamond detectors

Detectors based on Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) diamond have been used successfully in Luminosity and Beam Condition Monitors (BCM) in the highest radiation areas of the LHC. Future experiments at CERN will accumulate an order of magnitude larger fluence. As a result, an enormous effort is underway to identify detector materials that can operate under fluences of 1 · 1016 n cm−2 and 1 · 1017 n cm−2. Diamond is one candidate due to its large displacement energy that enhances its radiation tolerance. Over the last 30 years the RD42 collaboration has constructed diamond detectors in CVD diamond with a planar geometry and with a 3D geometry to extend the material’s radiation tolerance. The 3D cells in these detectors have a size of 50 μm×50 μm with columns of 2.6 μm in diameter and 100 μm×150 μm with columns of 4.6 μm in diameter. Here we present the latest beam test results from planar and 3D diamond pixel detectors

Development of Single Crystal Chemical Vapor Deposition Diamonds for Detector Applications

Diamond was studied as a possible radiation hard technology for use in future high radiation environments. With the commissioning of the LHC expected in 2010, and the LHC upgrades expected in 2015, all LHC experiments are planning for detector upgrades which require radiation hard technologies. Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) diamond has now been used extensively in beam conditions monitors as the innermost detectors in the highest radiation areas of BaBar, Belle and CDF and is installed and operational in all LHC experiments. As a result, this material is now being discussed as an alternative sensor material for tracking very close to the interaction region of the super-LHC where the most extreme radiation conditions will exist. Our work addressed the further development of the new material, single-crystal Chemical Vapor Deposition diamond, towards reliable industrial production of large pieces and new geometries needed for detector applications

Development of Single Crystal Chemical Vapor Deposition Diamonds for Detector Applications

Diamond was studied as a possible radiation hard technology for use in future high radiation environments. With the commissioning of the LHC expected in 2010, and the LHC upgrades expected in 2015, all LHC experiments are planning for detector upgrades which require radiation hard technologies. Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) diamond has now been used extensively in beam conditions monitors as the innermost detectors in the highest radiation areas of BaBar, Belle and CDF and is installed and operational in all LHC experiments. As a result, this material is now being discussed as an alternative sensor material for tracking very close to the interaction region of the super-LHC where the most extreme radiation conditions will exist. Our work addressed the further development of the new material, single-crystal Chemical Vapor Deposition diamond, towards reliable industrial production of large pieces and new geometries needed for detector applications

Research Proposal for an Experiment to Search for the Decay {\mu} -> eee

We propose an experiment (Mu3e) to search for the lepton flavour violating decay mu+ -> e+e-e+. We aim for an ultimate sensitivity of one in 10^16 mu-decays, four orders of magnitude better than previous searches. This sensitivity is made possible by exploiting modern silicon pixel detectors providing high spatial resolution and hodoscopes using scintillating fibres and tiles providing precise timing information at high particle rates.Comment: Research proposal submitted to the Paul Scherrer Institute Research Committee for Particle Physics at the Ring Cyclotron, 104 page

Natural ligand motifs of H-2E molecules are allele specific and illustrate homology to HLA-DR molecules

Motifs of peptldes naturally associated with H-2Ek and Ed molecules were determined by (i) pool sequencing of natural ligand mixtures and (ii) sequencing of individual natural ligands followed by their alignment to the basic motif suggested by pool sequencing. The data reveal nine amino acid motifs with interaction sites at relative positions P1, P4, P6 and P9, with specificities that are identical at some but different at other anchor positions between Ed and Ek motifs, illustrating the different requirements for peptides to be presented by these two MHC molecules. The anchors with the most restricted specificity are P1 and P9. P1 is aliphatic for Ek and predominantly aromatic for Ed. P9 is positively charged for both molecules. P4 and P6 show a totally different amino acid preference between Ek and Ed ligand motifs. An alignment of Ed and Ek protein sequences to the recently reported HLA-DR1 pocket residues is in agreement with observed anchor residues in Ek and Ed motifs, thus confirming the predicted similarity of mouse class II E molecules with human DR molecules. Furthermore, this alignment was extended to the putative pockets of class II Eb and E* molecules, and allowed, together with sequence information of previously Identified natural ligands of Eb and E5 molecules, a prediction of their respective motifs. The information obtained by this study should be useful to identify putative class II E epltopes in proteins and to design peptides for blocking class II E molecule