Filter arrays

• US 9,720,102 B1
• Filed: 04/03/2015
• Issued: 08/01/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/03/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: National Technology & Engineering Solutions Of Sandia LLC (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Sandia Corporation (Martin Marietta Corporation)
• Inventors: Page, Ralph H., Doty, F. Patrick
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Kiho
• Application Number:
  US14/678,670
• Time in Patent Office: 851 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01T 1/20 with scintillation detectors
• CPC Class Codes: G01T 1/2002 Optical details, e.g. reflecting or diffusing layers
• CPC Class Codes: G01T 3/06 with scintillation detectors
• CPC Class Codes: G02B 5/201 in the form of arrays

Abstract

The various technologies presented herein relate to a tiled filter array that can be used in connection with performance of spatial sampling of optical signals. The filter array comprises filter tiles, wherein a first plurality of filter tiles are formed from a first material, the first material being configured such that only photons having wavelengths in a first wavelength band pass therethrough. A second plurality of filter tiles is formed from a second material, the second material being configured such that only photons having wavelengths in a second wavelength band pass therethrough. The first plurality of filter tiles and the second plurality of filter tiles can be interspersed to form the filter array comprising an alternating arrangement of first filter tiles and second filter tiles.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a scintillator;

a filter array, the filter array comprising;

a first plurality of filters configured to filter photons having wavelengths outside of a first wavelength band;

a second plurality of filters configured to filter photons having wavelengths outside of a second wavelength band, wherein the first plurality of filters and the second plurality of filters are co-located as tiles forming the filter array;

a plurality of detectors, wherein;

filters in the first plurality of filters are attached to a first detector in the plurality of detectors; and

filters in the second plurality of filters are attached to a second detector in the plurality of detectors; and

a buffer layer, wherein the buffer layer is located between the scintillator and the filter array.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first plurality of filters and the second plurality of filters have a quadrilateral shape.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a filter in the first plurality of filters is located adjacent to a filter in the second plurality of filters.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first plurality of filters and the second plurality of filters are dichroic filters.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the filter array is attached to an external surface of the scintillator.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the scintillator is cylindrical.

7. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the scintillator is cubic having six external faces.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising four filter additional arrays respectively located on four other external faces of the scintillator.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of light-collecting optics, wherein the light-collecting optics are configured to connect the filters in the first plurality of filters to the first detector and connect the filters in the second plurality of filters to the second detector.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, the filter array further comprising:

a third plurality of filters configured to filter photons having wavelengths outside of a third wavelength band.

11. A method for identifying an electromagnetic particle, comprising:

receiving a first signal that is indicative of a number of photons that have wavelengths in a first wavelength band that have passed through a first filter of a tiled filter array and impacted a first detector, the first filter configured to filter photons having wavelengths outside of the first wavelength band;

receiving a second signal that is indicative of a number of photons that have wavelengths in a second wavelength band that have passed through a second filter of the tiled filter array and impacted a second detector, the second filter configured to filter photons having wavelengths outside of the second wavelength band; and

identifying the electromagnetic particle based upon the first signal and the second signal, the photons in both wavelengths being emitted from a scintillator responsive to the electromagnetic particle interacting with scintillator material of the scintillator.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the first filter and the second filter are included in a filter array that comprises a plurality of filters, the method further comprising laying out the plurality of filters to form a tiled array.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the first filter and the second filter are dichroic filters.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising locating the filter array on an external surface of the scintillator.

15. A scintillator apparatus, comprising:

a scintillator;

a filter array located on an external surface of the scintillator, wherein the filter array comprises;

a first filter configured to allow passage of photons in a first wavelength band to pass therethrough; and

a second filter configured to allow passage of photons in a second wavelength band to pass therethrough, the first filter and the second filter have a tile profile and are positioned adjacent to one another to form the filter array, the first wavelength band and the second wavelength band being non-overlapping; and

a buffer layer, wherein the buffer layer is located between the scintillator and the filter array.

16. The scintillator apparatus of claim 15, wherein the first filter and the second filter are dichroic filters.

17. The scintillator apparatus of claim 15, further comprising a first detector and a second detector, wherein the first detector is optically coupled to the first filter and the second detector is optically coupled to the second filter.