Ultrafast inorganic scintillator-based front imager for Gigahertz Hard X-ray imaging

Journal Article · 17 June 2019 · Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section A, Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2019.06.011 · OSTI ID:1767964

Hu, Chen ^[1]; Zhang, Liyuan ^[1]; Zhu, Ren-Yuan ^[1]; Demarteau, Marcel ^[2]; Wagner, Robert ^[2]; Xia, Lei ^[2]; Xie, Junqi ^[2]; Li, Xuan ^[3]; Wang, Zhehui ^[3]; Shih, Yanhua ^[4]; Smith, Thomas ^[4]

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1. California Institute of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States)
2. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
3. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
4. Univ. of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), Baltimore, MD (United States)

State-of-the art X-ray imaging cameras using silicon sensors for X-ray detection have demonstrated a frame-rate of 10 MHz and excellent performance for X-ray energies below 20 keV. We proposed a pixelated ultrafast inorganic scintillator-based front imager for GHz hard X-ray imaging. Here, the proposed imager is featured with a total absorption for hard X-ray photons, and provides sub-ns scintillation pulse width crucial for X-ray bunches of a few ns spacing foreseen at the proposed MaRIE facility. We measured temporal response of a dozen ultrafast and fast inorganic scintillators at the 10-ID-B site of the Advanced Photon Source (APS) of ANL. Crystal's response to hybrid X-ray beam of 30 keV, consisting of singlet bunches of 50 ps width and septuplet bunches of 27 ps width with 2.83 ns bunch spacing, was measured. Ultrafast inorganic scintillators, such as BaF₂:Y and ZnO:Ga, show clearly resolved X-ray bunches for septuplets, as well as no degradation of amplitude for continuous eight septuplets, providing a proof of principle for the ultrafast inorganic scintillator-based total absorption front imager for the proposed MaRIE project.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-06CH11357; SC0011925
• OSTI ID: 1767964
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1530476
• Journal Information: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section A, Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 940; ISSN 0168-9002
• Publisher: ElsevierCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English