uses of radiation detector

[Project CVD]

Hello, I am a business student currently collaborating on a technology project whose aim is to find alternative applications for a radiation detector made from artificial diamond.

 

The main benefits of the detector are:
• Ultra-fast response time
• High durability in really harsh environments (vacuum, radioactive environment, space, cryogenic temperatures)
• Very good signal-to-noise ratio and therefore very precise and reliable measurement
• Broad dynamic range (radioactive particles to UV-light)

 

Any ideas where it could be used?

 

Thanks for your help

[Phi for All]

!

Moderator Note

One thread per topic please, so we can keep the discussion focused.

[Endy0816]

Most of what comes to mind are the more obvious uses. Detection of nuclear radiation, smoke alarms, signal recievers, etc.

 

 

A bit out there but maybe a jeweled personal radiation detector, if it could be made simple enough, Glow red = danger.

 

I could see a number of locations in the world where that might appeal at present.

Edited November 22, 2013 by Endy0816

[swansont]

I am not sure what you mean by "alternative applications". To me, that sounds like you want to use a radiation detector in some way other than detecting radiation. Because that's what the normal application of it is.

[Enthalpy]

To the advantages, you could have added the drawbacks "tiny" and "expensive"... Quite often, users want big detectors, and look to germanium for that.

 

Big resistance to cumulated dose suggest to produce electricity from radioactivity nearly like a photovoltaic cell does. Presently, the conversion is made by thermoelectric effect ("Seebeck") because semiconductors are damaged too quickly by radiation. Diamond's wide, almost direct gap, will improve the conversion efficiency.

http://www.ioffe.rssi.ru/SVA/NSM/Semicond/Diamond/bandstr.html

With a beta emitter like ⁹⁰Sr, the semiconductor would last for long, but it needs a thick radiation shield. ²³⁸Pu, a pure alpha emitter, needs no shield but destroys the semiconductor.

 

Quick detectors are useful for coincidence detection, as is done in positron-electron tomography. Though, most uses need big detectors.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coincidence_circuit

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positron_emission_tomography

 

In a situation of high flux, a quicker detector can permit to detect and classify each incoming particle independently, while slower detectors give only an averaged current. Though, the alternative can be to use smaller detectors if the flux suffices. The advantage of a quicker detector is when you search for few remarkable particles in a big flux of uninteresting ones.

 

Carbon, with only 6 protons, is less sensitive to gammas and X, so you could combine it with a different detector (Germanium and others) to make a rough discrimination with beta rays. It can be a better sniffer for ⁹⁰Sr specifically, say in partially cleaned water - see where I mean. Though, data processing and differential shielding are a competitor.

 

Carbon should be little sensitive to neutrons - even less if you use pure ¹²C and choose carefully all materials in the detector. Again differential detection with other materials.

 

Surviving high dose, and insensitivity to neutrons, suggest the use within a nuclear reactor.

[Enthalpy]

If sensitivity begins at 5.46eV, well into the UV, you can test UV emitting lamps.

 

- Diamond would detect the 185nm line of low-pressure mercury lamps but not the 254nm line of medium-pressure. That's a quick way to check the fficiency of low-pressure mercury lamps.

 

- Being insensitive to visible light, a diamond UV detector would tell how well a fluorescent lamp shields its UV emission.

 

- Measure the power emitted by the new excimer UV lamps: Ar2 (126 nm), Kr2 (146 nm), Xe2 (172 nm), KrCl (222 nm) and a few more. Used for chemical synthesis, and as bactericides; both need to monitor the emitted power, and a detector insensitive to visible light is better.

 

Diamond has a better suited bandgap then gallium nitride for these uses:

http://www.ioffe.rssi.ru/SVA/NSM/Semicond/Diamond/bandstr.html

http://www.ioffe.rssi.ru/SVA/NSM/Semicond/GaN/bandstr.html

 

A fast electron detector, little sensitive to gammas from cosmic rays, but of big area, could be nice to detect double beta decay - but that's a very marginal use...

Edited November 25, 2013 by Enthalpy