Radiation detector based on piezoelectric lead zirconate titanate material

The feasibility of using piezoelectric lead zirconate titanate (PZT) elements as a radiation detector was examined. We tried to observe the pressure wave excited by irradiating liquid ethanol (C2H5OH) with a 400 MeV/n xenon (Xe) beam using an array of PZT elements, while changing the position of beam irradiation. The elements were designed to obtain two independent electric signals in order to estimate the beam position in one direction on a two-dimensional plane. The time at which the peak of the output signal appeared differed between the two signals obtained from one element under limited experimental conditions. This suggests that the trajectory ofthe Xe beam may be determined in three-dimensional space with an improved array of the PZT elements

Detector performance of the position-sensitive tissue-equivalent proportional chamber for space dosimetry onboard the international space station

We investigated the performance of a flight model of the position-sensitive tissue-equivalent proportional chamber (PS-TEPC) by irradiating with heavy-ion beams prior to launch to the International Space Station. The flight model operated stably with an effective gas gain of 1000 under a sealed gas. This gain was almost consistent with the effective gas gain under a gas flow. Energies of H, C, Si and Fe beams measured using the PS-TEPC flight model agreed well with calculations using the SRIM2008 code. Energy resolutions of 9.7% and 3.8% were obtained for the C and Fe beams, respectively. The uncertainties in dose equivalents were estimated to be better than 30% assuming both the theoretical model and best-fit function of linear energy transfer and referring to previously reported integrated dose fractions for an actual spacecraft. These features of the flight model satisfy the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements criteria for space dosimeters

Comparison between two piezoelectric lead-zirconate-titanate detectors bombarded with high-energy xenon beam

The characteristics of piezoelectric lead-zirconate-titanate (PZT) detectors were studied by directly irradiating them with a 400 MeV/n Xe beam. The sensitivity of a multilayered detector was discussed in comparison with that of a monolayered detector. It was found that the sensitivity of the detectors depended on their structure