Further study on different dopings into PbWO4 single crystals to increase the scintillation light yield

Since we presented our preliminary result (Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A 486 (2002) 170) at SCINT2001, we have continued our efforts to increase the light yield (LY) of PbWO₄ scintillators by extending different dopings with an aim to find a possibility of using PbWO₄ successfully in Positron Emission Tomography (PET). Overall result obtained for single doping as well as double and tripple co-dopings are summarized, including decay characteristics and radiation hardness. The LY in non-doped PbWO₄ crystals with a size of 10×10×(20–30) mm³ is 25–35 photolectrons/MeV (phe/MeV) corresponding to 3–4% of the LY in BGO, when measured with a bialkali photomultiplier during a gate of 1 μs. The maximum LY increased to 49 phe/MeV for single doping with Mo⁶⁺, 80 phe/MeV for double co-doping of Mo⁶⁺+Sb⁵⁺, and 85 phe/MeV for tripple co-doping of Mo⁶⁺+Cd²⁺+Sb⁵⁺. The radiation hardness is larger than 10⁵ Gy for each of the samples co-doped with Mo⁶⁺+Sb⁵⁺ and Mo⁶⁺+Cd²⁺+Sb⁵⁺, while it is much poorer in PWO:Mo⁶⁺. In each of these co-doped samples, a medium-speed green emission in the microsecond range is created besides the fundamental fast (a few nanoseconds range) blue one, giving a peak at 500 nm in the radioluminescence spectrum similarly as in PWO:Mo⁶⁺.     

掺铈多组分硅酸盐玻璃电子辐照着色研究

采用吸收光谱、电子顺磁共振谱和光致发光谱对掺Ce多组分硅酸盐玻璃K509在10 MeV电子辐照下的色心动力学进行了研究。结果表明, 电子辐照引起K509玻璃可见光透过率降低的色心类型为非桥氧空穴色心HC1和HC2。在剂量率一定的情况下, 色心浓度随总剂量的增大呈指数函数增大; 在总剂量一定的情况下, 色心浓度随剂量率增大呈指数函数减小。Ce³⁺荧光强度的变化表明辐照过程中Ce³⁺浓度与辐照总剂量负相关, 与辐照剂量率正相关, 验证了掺Ce玻璃耐辐照机理: Ce³⁺吸收辐照产生的空穴从而抑制空穴色心HC1和HC2的形成, 且不引入额外的可见光波段吸收。通过对Ce³⁺宽带荧光峰进行高斯拟合, 得到了K509中Ce³⁺能级结构图。     

Simultaneous determination of dose and time elapsed since irradiation using CaSO4:Dy thermoluminescent dosimeters

Information about the time which has elapsed since an external radiation exposure is useful in order to determine the time of occurrence of an abnormal exposure in personal and accident dosimetry. This information can be obtained from certain irradiated thermoluminescent dosimeters. A computational method based on decay rates of thermoluminescence glow peaks has been used to estimate a range of suitable values of trap lifetimes of low-temperature glow peaks. This provides the basis to determine not only the absorbed dose from a radiation exposure but also the time elapsed since irradiation. Experimental data on CaSO₄:Dy dosimeters agree favourably with theoretical predictions, particularly in the variation of the peak area ratio with elapsed time since an abnormal exposure superimposed on a constant and continuous background exposure.     

In-core thermal high-neutron fluence measurement by TLD-activation method

Thermal neutron fluence between 10¹⁴ and 10¹⁸ n/cm² in the Health Physics Research Reactor-Core of Tehran was measured conveniently by a TLD reader using the ⁶Li(n,)³H reaction in TLD-700. The primarily induced thermoluminescence (TL) by irradiation of the crystal in the reactor core was first cleared by annealing. The secondary TL of TLD-700 produced after a storage time by the absorbed energies of decayed tritons in crystal was used as a basis for assessment of prior exposure to neutrons. A thermal treatment stabilized the readings of the high-dose-irradiated dosimeters and reduced the influence of radiation damage in TLD-700. The response reduction as a consequence of high-dose radiation was corrected by Elemental Correction Coefficients (ECC) using gamma responses prior to in-core irradiation. The resulting correlation between neutron fluence and build-up TL of TLD-700 as a consequence of internal activity is presented.     

Microstructural changes in oxygen-irradiated zirconium-based alloy characterised by X-ray diffraction techniques

We have carried out irradiation with 116 MeV O⁵⁺ ions on Zr–1Sn–1Nb–0.1Fe (ZIRLO) alloy at different doses and the microstructural parameters of the irradiated samples have been characterised by X-ray Diffraction Line Profile Analysis (XRDLPA). The average volume-weighted and surface-weighted domain size, microstrain and dislocation density have been estimated as a function of dose. There was a drastic decrease in domain size from unirradiated sample to the sample at a dose of 1 × 10¹⁷ O⁵⁺/m², but these values saturated with increasing dose of irradiation. The values of microstrain were found to increase with dose. The dislocation density increased almost by an order of magnitude for the samples irradiated with 1 × 10¹⁸ O⁵⁺/m² and 5 × 10¹⁸ O⁵⁺/m² as compared to the unirradiated samples.     

Underlying mechanisms for unique elastic properties of nanocrystalline Au

In order to get an insight into the grain boundaries (GBs) in nanocrystalline (n-) metal, we prepared the high-density n-Au with ρ/ρ₀>99% by the gas-deposition method and carried out the vibrating reed measurements, where ρ/ρ₀ is the relative density referring to the bulk density. The strain amplitude dependence (SAMD) of the resonant frequency (f) and the internal friction (Q⁻¹) was measured for the strain () amplitude between 10⁻⁶ and 2×10⁻³ and for temperature between 5 and 300 K. No plastic deformations are detected for the present strain range, where f decreases for up to 10⁻⁴ and then turns to increase, showing saturation for between 10⁻⁴ and 2×10⁻³. The low temperature irradiation by 2 MeV electrons or 20 MeV protons causes an increase in the Young’s modulus at 6 K, which is surmised to reflect a modification of the anelastic process in the GB regions. In contrast, the SAMD of f is hardly modified by irradiation, suggesting that it is indicative of a collective motion of atoms in n-Au.     

Y3+:PbWO4晶体低剂量辐照行为研究

三价稀土离子(Ｌａ^３＋、Ｌｕ^３＋和Ｙ^３＋等)掺杂显著地提高了钨酸铅晶体的辐照硬度,但是部分Ｙ^３＋掺杂钨酸铅晶体表现出特殊的低剂量辐照行为,即光产额辐照后升高,并且辐照硬度对退火温度较敏感 本研究挑选了存在这一现象的Ｙ^３＋:ＰｂＷＯ_４晶体,测试不同温度的退火处理对晶体透过率、光产额和辐照硬度的关系,发现:辐照后光产额升高的现象同时存在于晶体的晶种端,而不是只集中在晶体顶端,并且和辐照前后晶体在４００~５００ｕｍ波段附近的透过率变化有关;生长态Ｙ^３＋:ＰＷＯ晶体中导致４３０ｕｍ吸收带的色心的稳定性很低,低剂量辐照对该色心有“漂白”作用,辐照剂量率加大则晶体表现出光产额的降低;分段晶体的系列退火实验解释了辐照硬度对退火温度较为敏感这一现象,为进一步深入研究提供了实验基础．     

快重离子辐照对氧化锌材料内部结构特性的影响

使用拉曼光谱和透射电镜等分析手段研究了高能快重离子辐照对ZnO单晶内部结构特性的影响。结果表明,经过快重离子辐照后,在ZnO单晶的拉曼光谱中出现了两个新的振动吸收峰。采用不同轴向的拉曼入射光表征方法,证实了位于576 cm^-1的振动吸收峰与氧空缺位(V₀)密切相关。经离子辐照后透射电镜图像显示出现了许多间隙原子、空位和位错等缺陷,而电子衍射图表明试样没有出现明显的非晶化。这个结果表明,较高的能量和辐照剂量对氧化锌的整体结构和性能几乎没有影响,也充分证明ZnO单晶具有良好的抗辐照性能。     

The recommended energy dependences of the sensitivity of photon radiation emergency dosimeters according to the NRB-99 standard

The recommended energy dependences of the sensitivity of emergency dosimeters are calculated for different irradiation geometries in the photon energy range of 10 keV–10 MeV. These serve to estimate the levels of radiation for which, according to the NRB-99 standard, either urgent action or action for chronic exposure is necessary. __________ Translated from Izmeritel’naya Tekhnika, No. 11, pp. 52–56, November, 2007.     

Heavy ion radiation damage in double-sided silicon strip detectors

A ²⁵²Cf fission fragment source was used to produce heavy-ion radiation damage in a double-sided silicon strip detector. It was found that a good quality fission fragment spectrum (as determined by the peak to valley ration N_L/N_V) could not be achieved for radiation incident on the p⁺ face of the detector. However, for radiation incident on the n⁺ face, the ratio N_L/N_V remained adequate up to an accumulated dose of 4×10⁶ fragments mm⁻². For the measurement of alphas, typical resolution deteriorated from an initial 30 keV FWHM to 50 keV FWHM at a dose of 8×10⁶ fragments mm⁻² for incident on the n⁺ face, and 6×10⁶ for radiation incident on the p⁺ face. The interstrip resistance in one region of the n⁺ face broke down completely after a relatively small radiation doses incident on that face. Further investigation of this is still required.     

Radiation-hardness studies of high OH content quartz fibres irradiated with 500 MeV electrons

We investigated the darkening of nine high OH⁻ fibre types irradiated with 500 MeV electrons from the Linac Injector of LEP (LIL) at CERN. The transmission of Xe light was measured in situ in the 350–800 nm range. The induced attenuation at 450 nm is typically 1.52±0.15 dB/m for a 100 Mrad absorbed dose. Two-parameter fits for darkening and recovery are presented. After irradiation the tensile strength remains essentially unchanged. For Polymicro quartz core fibres the tensile strength is typically 4.6±0.4 GPa.     

Empirical efficiency and volume relationships for HPGe detectors

We have extended the empirical work of Vano et al.[1] relating the slope of the detector efficiency curve to the active volume for Ge detectors. The analysis was carried out using Monte Carlo techniques and covered a wide range of incident energies (200 keV-20 MeV) and active volumes (19.6 cm³–396 cm³). It is shown that the expression of Vano et al.[1] is only valid over the energy range 200 keV-3 MeV for active volumes <50 cm³. The upper bound decreases to 2 MeV for volumes of a few hundred cm³. The usable energy range can, however, be extended to 6 MeV by introducing higher order terms into the polynomial. Above this energy, the shape of the efficiency curve is better described by a non-linear function since linear forms fail simultaneously to fit large active volumes and high energies. We therefore propose a composite function which reduces to the form given in Vano et al. in the low energy/active volume limit. By comparison with the Monte Carlo results, it is estimated that relative efficiencies can be calculated to within 6% over the energy range 200 keV-20 MeV and active volumes 20 cm³–400 cm³. Since the largest errors occur for the smallest volumes, we recommend that for energies <3 MeV a two-fold approach be followed, i.e. using the expression of Vano et al.[1] for active volumes less than 50 cm³ and the proposed non-linear form for larger volumes. For high energy work (E > 3 MeV), we advocate the non-linear form. In this way, average errors can be kept 3%. Finally, we point out that the real power of the expression of Vano et al. lies not in predicting efficiencies, but active volumes.     

Precise conversion electron intensities of Eu decay for detector calibration purposes

A double focusing electron spectrometer has been used to determine precise relative intensities of internal conversion electron (ICE) lines following the decay of ¹⁵²Eu in order to produce a suitable standard for solid state electron detectors. Intensities of 21 electron lines are given in the energy range 198 keV to 1.361 MeV with a precision close to 3.5%. For the 0₂⁺−0₁⁺ E0 transition in ¹⁵²Gd, a precise energy of 615.406(11) keV has been established and an X-value of 0.047(5) was derived.     

EFFECT OF ELECTRONIC IRRADIATION IN THE PRODUCTION OF NbSe2 NANOTUBES

In this work, we report the production of NbSe₂ (niobium diselenide) nanotubes formed by irradiating NbSe₂ with high doses of electron irradiation. The apparatus used for the irradiation was a 2 MeV Van de Graaff accelerator at the following conditions: voltage 1.3 MeV, current 5 μA, dose rate 25 kGy/min, and total dosage 1000 kGy. These conditions were maintained fixed while irradiation dosage was changed between 100, 250 and 500 Mrad. We observed enormous and very well defined nanotubes with a length of several nm and width of a few nm, which are hollow and capped at one end. As the level of irradiation is increased to 500 Mrad, onion-like structures were observed.     

Cadmium Selective PVC-Membranes Sensor Based on 1, 2-Bis (Quinoline-2-Carboxamido) -4-Chlorobenzene as a Neutral Carrier

The 1, 2-bis(quinoline-2-Carboxamido)-4-chlorobenzene (H₂Clbqb) was used as an excellent ionophore in the construction of a cadmium(II)-selective PVC-based membrane sensor. The influences of membrane compositions on the potentiometric response of the electrodes have been found to substantially improve the performance characteristics. The best performance was obtained with a membrane composition of (H₂Clbqb) (5%): PVC (31%): DBP (61%): NaTPB (3%). The sensor shows a Nernestian response for cadmium ions over a wide concentration range (1.0times10⁶ to 1.0 times 10^-1 mol.L^-1) with slope of 30.3 plusmn0.4 mV decade¹. The limit of detection was 8.0 times10^-7 mol.L^-1. It illustrates a relatively fast response time in the whole concentration range (< 10 s) and it can be used for at least 8 weeks without any divergence in potential. The electrode can be used in the pH range from 2.4 to 9.0. The selectivity coefficient of some alkali, alkaline earth, transition and heavy metal ions towards Cd²⁺ion have been determined. The results show proposed Cd sensor is selective over a number of mono, bi- and trivalent cations such as Pb²⁺, Fe³⁺, Ni²⁺, K⁺, and Mg²⁺. The analytical usefulness of the proposed electrode has been evaluated by its application in the determination of cadmium in real samples. It was successfully applied for the direct determination of Cd²⁺ in standard and real sample solutions.     

Modification of Polyimide by Energetic C60+ Ions

Thin polyimide foils were irradiated with 20 and 30 MeV C₆₀+ ions and then examined by FTIR. First changes in the FTIR spectra were observed at fluences as low as some 10⁹ cm^-2. The findings point at the onset of formation of new radiochemical reaction products for low fluences, and at polyimide destruction at higher fluences. It appears possible to scale different results on C_n⁺ (n = 1 to 60) single-atomic, cluster and fullerene ion irradiation with the total transferred energy density p_t = S_tΦt, where Φt is the cluster ion fluence and S_t is the total cluster stopping power in the polymer.     

IRRADIATION EMBRITTLEMENT OF A LOW ALLOY STEEL INTERPRETED IN TERMS OF A LOCAL APPROACH OF CLEAVAGE FRACTURE

Abstract— One heat of A 508 steel is investigated in both the unirradiated and the irradiated condition to determine the variation of the fracture toughness with temperature and specimen thickness. CT type specimens with three thicknesses B (12.5, 25 and 50 mm) are used. Two fluence levels (3·10¹⁹ and 8·¹⁹ n/cm²)( E < 1 MeV) are investigated. It is shown that the fracture toughness is a decreasing function of both specimen thickness and temperature. A model developed previously by Beremin is used to interpret the results. Axisymmetric notched specimens are tested to determine the factors used in the statistical approach of cleavage fracture. It is confirmed that the Beremin model is able to account for the large scatter in fracture toughness observed at a given temperature on the unirradiated material. The specimen thickness effect is also reasonably well interpreted by the model. The irradiation embrittlement can be explained by assuming that the cleavage fracture resistance is not modified by irradiation and by taking into account only the variations of yield strength with irradiation and test temperature.     

A small-angle neutron scattering study of the effects of high-dose electron irradiation on the precipitates in an Al-11.8 at% Zn alloy

The effects of high-dose electron irradiation, 2 MeV electrons at a flux of 10¹⁴ electrons/cm² s, on the precipitates in an Al-11.8 at% Zn alloy are reported. The small-angle neutron scattering experiments were performed on unirradiated and irradiated samples under identical conditions. It is observed that under higher doses the precipitates behave differently as compared to lowdose irradiation. No initial large drop in the magnitude of scattering is seen in high-dose irradiation, rather a continued increase in scattering with a simultaneous increase in the precipitate size. It is believed that at low doses some precipitates dissolve in the matrix which then becomes supersaturated, and with enhanced rate of diffusion as a result of continued irradiation, the remaining precipitates grow rapidly. As the supersaturation reduces, a coarsening mechanism takes over, via a radiation-enhanced diffusion mechanism.     

基于离子交联复合水凝胶的易制备、高性能的可穿戴应变传感器

可响应多种机械激励模式且具有较高灵敏度的柔性传感器在电子皮肤、健康监测等领域具有重要意义.而模仿皮肤的多信号响应,如应变和温度,仍然是一个重要的挑战.因此,本文设计了具有韧性与导电性的多功能离子交联水凝胶.通过将丙烯酰胺与N,N’-亚甲基双丙烯酰胺、过硫酸铵交联,可制备出具有高力学强度特性的化学凝胶,交联时加入Ca²⁺,Mg²⁺0,Al³⁺等盐类物质赋予水凝胶双层网络,使这种离子型双网络水凝胶具有优良的导电特性.这种双层网络结构使离子水凝胶表现出优异的力学性能.此外,含有Ca²⁺离子的复合水凝胶最大拉伸可以达到1100%,并表现出超高的灵敏度(Sp=10.690 MPa^-1).所获得的水凝胶能够实现可穿戴应力传感器的制备并跟踪监测人体运动,有希望进一步拓展到人机交互以及智能人体健康检测等领域.     

Electrochemical deposition of PbSe and CdTe nanoparticles onto p-Si(100) wafers and into nanopores in SiO2/Si(100) structure

Electrochemical deposition of PbSe and CdTe nanoparticles onto p-Si(100) wafers and into nanopores in SiO₂ layer grown thermally on p-Si(100) substrates (SiO₂/Si(100) structure) under illumination was studied. To produce nanopores we used SiO₂ layer with tracks developed by irradiation of 350 MeV Au ions. Pores structure was formed by chemical etching of the irradiated SiO₂ layer in dilute HF. The pores were shaped like truncated cones with a base diameter of 200 and 250 nm and height of 200 nm. Photoelectrochemical deposition of PbSe and CdTe was carried out with constant cathodic potentials from the water solutions containing Pb²⁺, Cd²⁺ cations and H₂SeO₃, H₂TeO₃ acids. The potentials applied were more positive than the equilibrium E_{Meⁿ⁺/Me⁰} redox potential. The underpotential deposition of Pb (or Cd) occurs only onto the co-deposited Se (or Te) atoms due to electrons photogenerated in Si substrate. The average sizes of PbSe and CdTe particles electrodeposited onto Si(100) wafers were dependent on the duration of electrodeposition, changing from 50 to 200 nm for PbSe and 30–80 nm for CdTe. According to XRD data, PbSe particles formed at ambient conditions had the crystalline structure. To deposit CdTe nanoparticles we used an electrolyte heated up to 80 °C. Variations in the electrodeposition time enabled one to form either separate chalcogenide particles or a polycrystalline film-like layer in case of electrodeposition onto p-Si(100) wafers and to control the degree of pore filling in case of electrodeposition into the nanopores of SiO₂/Si(100) structure.