SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INCREASED GAMMA/NEUTRON DETECTION
First Claim
1. A system for detecting at least one of nuclear and fissile materials, the system comprising:
- a plurality of high speed scintillator detectors, wherein each high speed scintillator detector of the plurality of high speed scintillator detectors comprises;
at least one photosensor having an optical input and an electrical signal output, the optical input being optically coupled to scintillation material for coupling one or more light pulses from the scintillation material to the optical input of the photosensor, in response to neutron particles and/or gamma particles interacting with the scintillation material, and the electrical signal output providing an electrical sensor signal comprising one or more electrical pulses corresponding to the one or more light pulses from the scintillation material;
a pre-amp sensor circuit having an amplifier signal input, that is electrically coupled to the electrical signal output of the photosensor, and an output, the pre-amp sensor circuit being configured to provide at its output an electrical amplifier signal having an optimum electrical signal pulse shape for each of the one or more electrical pulses of the electrical sensor signal, without stretching or distortion of pulse shape; and
an analog to digital converter having an input electrically coupled to the output of the pre-amp sensor circuit, and an output for providing a digital sensor signal corresponding to the electrical amplifier signal; and
digital signal processing circuits, having an input electrically coupled to the output of the analog to digital converter, for performing pulse shape differentiation on the digital sensor signal based on one or more neutron signal shape filters and one or more gamma signal shape filters that are applied to the digital sensor signal to separate gamma pulse signal detection from neutron pulse signal detection by each high speed scintillator detector.
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Abstract
A system detects at least one of nuclear and fissile materials. The system includes a plurality of high speed scintillator detectors. Each high speed scintillator detector in the plurality of high speed scintillator detectors includes at least one photo sensor and a pre-amp circuit adapted to eliminate pulse stretching and distortion of detected light pulses emitted from scintillation material when interacting with neutron particles and/or gamma particles. An isotope database includes a plurality of spectral images corresponding to different known isotopes. An information processing system is adapted to compare spectral data received from each high speed scintillator detector to one or more of the spectral images and identify one or more isotopes present in an object or container being monitored.
118 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A system for detecting at least one of nuclear and fissile materials, the system comprising:
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a plurality of high speed scintillator detectors, wherein each high speed scintillator detector of the plurality of high speed scintillator detectors comprises; at least one photosensor having an optical input and an electrical signal output, the optical input being optically coupled to scintillation material for coupling one or more light pulses from the scintillation material to the optical input of the photosensor, in response to neutron particles and/or gamma particles interacting with the scintillation material, and the electrical signal output providing an electrical sensor signal comprising one or more electrical pulses corresponding to the one or more light pulses from the scintillation material; a pre-amp sensor circuit having an amplifier signal input, that is electrically coupled to the electrical signal output of the photosensor, and an output, the pre-amp sensor circuit being configured to provide at its output an electrical amplifier signal having an optimum electrical signal pulse shape for each of the one or more electrical pulses of the electrical sensor signal, without stretching or distortion of pulse shape; and an analog to digital converter having an input electrically coupled to the output of the pre-amp sensor circuit, and an output for providing a digital sensor signal corresponding to the electrical amplifier signal; and digital signal processing circuits, having an input electrically coupled to the output of the analog to digital converter, for performing pulse shape differentiation on the digital sensor signal based on one or more neutron signal shape filters and one or more gamma signal shape filters that are applied to the digital sensor signal to separate gamma pulse signal detection from neutron pulse signal detection by each high speed scintillator detector. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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4. The system of claim 4, wherein each of the at least one of a neutron detector and a gamma detector includes a temperature sensor that measures the temperature of at least one of scintillation material and a photosensor associated with the detector.
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13. A high speed scintillator detector comprising:
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at least one scintillation light crystal; a photo sensor optically coupled to the at least one scintillation light crystal, wherein the at least one scintillation light crystal emits one or more light pulses in response to neutron particles and/or gamma particles interacting with scintillation material of the at least one scintillation light crystal, and the photo sensor, in response to receiving the one or more light pulses, provides at an output of the photo sensor an electrical sensor signal comprising one or more electrical pulses corresponding to the one or more light pulses from the scintillation material; a pre-amp circuit electrically coupled to the output of the photo sensor, wherein the pre-amp circuit is configured to operate at a speed that is substantially at least as fast as a fastest light pulse rise time, duration, and decay time, for the one or more light pulses emitted from the scintillation light crystal and optically coupled to the photo sensor; and a thermal sensor coupled to at least one of the scintillation light crystal and the photo sensor. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A passive high performance neutron and gamma scintillation detection system for the detection and identification of shielded special nuclear material, the system comprising:
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at least one neutron detector and at least one gamma detector, wherein each of the at least one neutron detector and the at least one gamma detector comprises a pre-amp circuit configured to eliminate pulse stretching and distortion of electrical pulses in an electrical sensor signal from a photo sensor that is optically coupled to scintillation material, the electrical pulses in the electrical sensor signal corresponding to one or more light pulses emitted by the scintillation material and coupled to the photo sensor, the one or more light pulses being generated in response to neutron particles and/or gamma particles interacting with the scintillation material; an isotope database comprising a plurality of spectral images, wherein each spectral image in the plurality of spectral images corresponds to a different known isotope; and an information processing system, communicatively coupled to the at least one neutron detector and at least one gamma detector and the isotope database, wherein the information processing system is configured by software to compare spectral data received from each of the at least one neutron detector and at least one gamma detector to one or more of the spectral images in the isotope database and identify one or more isotopes present in an object or container being monitored. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21)
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Specification