Novel Photosensor Technology ...

• Main Author: University Of California Office Of The President
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: University of California Office of the President 2024
• Subjects: Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17920/g9s93k; https://rgpogrants.ucop.edu/files/1614305/f480589/index.html

An 80 years old electronic sensor remains the key element of radiation detectors in some very important applications: - Medical Tomography (gamma cameras, PET, SPECT scanners), - Homeland Security (detectors of nuclear materials), - Physics Research (detectors of neutrinos, cosmic rays and dark matter; in mines, oceans, Antarctic ice). That sensor, the photomultiper tube (PMT), resembles an Edison light bulb, but with a multitude of 20 wires sticking out of each, and a network of about 100 metallic elements that dominate its evacuated interior. PMTs function as pixels, and are needed by thousands in each detector or scanner. They are the leading cost-driver and performance-limiter in all applications. The low productivity (labor-intensive manufacture) had forced the largest producer Photonis from France to close its production plant in 2009. To replace PMTs with inexpensive modern devices, Prof. Daniel Ferenc (PI) has developed a novel sensor called ABALONE, whose core comprises only three simple glass ...