SBIR Phase I: Novel Solid-State Cerenkov Detector for Portable and Wearable Neutron Radiation Sensors

SBIR 第一阶段：用于便携式和可穿戴中子辐射传感器的新型固态切伦科夫探测器

• 批准号: 1448519
• 负责人: Roy Clarke
• 金额: $ 15万
• 依托单位: Endectra, LLC
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-01-01 至 2015-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1448519&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Novel; Solid; State

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to bring a disruptive neutron detector technology to market, filling an urgent need for real-time, portable and wearable radiation detectors. Successful commercialization of this innovative technology will serve a broad customer base in the nuclear detection and verification industry. This includes nuclear power industry workers, national lab staff, and homeland security personnel, all of whom need to detect the presence of neutron-emitting radioactive materials and assess the health physics risks in real time. This multi-billion dollar market is currently well served with gamma ray and x-ray detection devices, but the capabilities for wearable neutron dosimeters and detectors are currently less well developed. The proposed technology closes this gap and thus addresses new commercial opportunities across a targeted array of markets: in addition to supporting U.S. technology leadership and safer low-carbon nuclear energy generation, this project will explore new kinds of directional arrays for neutron imaging and portal detectors, helping to make the nation's borders more secure against illicit nuclear materials and providing improved tools for nuclear safeguards and verification.This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will evaluate the feasibility of a novel compact, wearable neutron detector/dosimeter based solely on solid-state technology. Research objectives include a thorough quantitative assessment of the detector front-end material response to neutron radiation, evaluation of its optoelectronic characteristics, and gamma discrimination. This will be the first detector of its kind, enabling portability, low cost, real time signal capability and complete integration with semiconductor microdevice technology. The novel device concept combines a directional optical converter (neutrons to secondary electrons to light) with state-of-the-art optoelectronic detection to provide a digital output which is compatible with wireless reporting protocols and internet integration. The proposed device can therefore be reconfigured for many radiation detection tasks that are currently not feasible with larger, bulky devices using conventional gas proportional and scintillator detector technology. The anticipated result is a novel disruptive neutron detection approach. The research to be performed at the forefront of neutron detection science includes a thorough evaluation of the neutron-capture process, and aims for the first time to better understand the radiation response of a high density of large capture cross-section nuclei in a high-purity optical medium.

这项小型企业创新研究（SBIR）I阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是将破坏性的中子探测器技术推向市场，从而满足了实时，便携式和可穿戴辐射探测器的迫切需求。这项创新技术的成功商业化将为核检测和验证行业提供广泛的客户群。这包括核电行业工人，国家实验室工作人员和国土安全人员，他们所有人都需要发现中子发射放射性材料的存在并实时评估健康物理风险。 目前，这个数十亿美元的市场与伽玛射线和X射线检测设备一起服务，但是可穿戴的中子剂量计和探测器的功能目前不太发达。 The proposed technology closes this gap and thus addresses new commercial opportunities across a targeted array of markets: in addition to supporting U.S. technology leadership and safer low-carbon nuclear energy generation, this project will explore new kinds of directional arrays for neutron imaging and portal detectors, helping to make the nation's borders more secure against illicit nuclear materials and providing improved tools for nuclear safeguards and verification.This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project将评估仅基于固态技术的新型紧凑，可穿戴的中子探测器/剂量计的可行性。研究目标包括对检测器前端材料对中子辐射的响应的彻底定量评估，对其光电特征的评估和伽马歧视。这将是同类探测器的第一个检测器，可以使可移植性，低成本，实时信号能力以及与半导体微电位技术的完整集成。 新颖的设备概念结合了定向光学转换器（对辅助电子到光的中子）与最先进的光电检测，以提供与无线报告协议和Internet集成兼容的数字输出。 因此，可以使用常规气体比例和闪烁体检测器技术对许多辐射检测任务进行重新配置，这些设备目前不可行，目前不可行，这些设备可以重新配置。 预期的结果是一种新型的破坏性中子检测方法。 这项研究要在中子检测科学的最前沿进行，包括对中子捕获过程的彻底评估，并首次旨在更好地理解高纯度光学介质中高密度大捕获横截面核的辐射响应。