Neutron camera employing row and column summations
First Claim
1. A neutron camera comprising:
- a scintillator plate;
at least one detector unit, wherein each of said at least one detector unit comprises;
a photomultiplier tube located on a back side of said scintillator plate and comprising an R×
S matrix of outputs, wherein R and S are integers greater than 1;
an R×
S array of preamplifiers configured to amplify each output from said R×
S matrix of outputs and to generate R×
S amplified signals; and
a signal conversion circuitry configured to generate a set of R row summation signals and a set of S column summation signals from said R×
S amplified signals; and
a position calculation unit configured to analyze a distribution of first time-integrated sums derived from said set of R row summation signals and a distribution of second time-integrated sums derived from said set of S column summation signals to identify an event location in said scintillator plate at which a neutron causes scintillation.
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Accused Products
Abstract
For each photomultiplier tube in an Anger camera, an R×S array of preamplifiers is provided to detect electrons generated within the photomultiplier tube. The outputs of the preamplifiers are digitized to measure the magnitude of the signals from each preamplifier. For each photomultiplier tube, a corresponding summation circuitry including R row summation circuits and S column summation circuits numerically add the magnitudes of the signals from preamplifiers for each row and for each column to generate histograms. For a P×Q array of photomultiplier tubes, P×Q summation circuitries generate P×Q row histograms including R entries and P×Q column histograms including S entries. The total set of histograms include P×Q×(R+S) entries, which can be analyzed by a position calculation circuit to determine the locations of events (detection of a neutron).
8 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A neutron camera comprising:
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a scintillator plate; at least one detector unit, wherein each of said at least one detector unit comprises; a photomultiplier tube located on a back side of said scintillator plate and comprising an R×
S matrix of outputs, wherein R and S are integers greater than 1;an R×
S array of preamplifiers configured to amplify each output from said R×
S matrix of outputs and to generate R×
S amplified signals; anda signal conversion circuitry configured to generate a set of R row summation signals and a set of S column summation signals from said R×
S amplified signals; anda position calculation unit configured to analyze a distribution of first time-integrated sums derived from said set of R row summation signals and a distribution of second time-integrated sums derived from said set of S column summation signals to identify an event location in said scintillator plate at which a neutron causes scintillation. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method of operating a neutron camera comprising:
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providing a neutron camera including a scintillator plate and at least one detector unit, wherein each of said at least one detector unit comprises at least a photomultiplier tube located on a back side of said scintillator plate and comprising an R×
S matrix of outputs, and an R×
S array of preamplifiers configured to amplify each output from said R×
S matrix of outputs and to generate R×
S amplified signals, wherein R and S are integers greater than 1;generating, for each of said at least one detector unit, a set of R row summation signals and a set of S column summation signals; and determining an event location in said scintillator plate at which a neutron causes scintillation by analyzing a distribution of first time-integrated sums derived from said at least one set of R row summation signals and a distribution of second time-integrated sums derived from said at least one set of S column summation signals. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification