The China Seismo-Electromagnetic Satellite (CSES) aims to monitor electromagnetic, particle, and plasma perturbations in the iono-magnetosphere and inner Van Allen radiation belts originated by ...electromagnetic sources external and internal to the geomagnetic cavity, cosmic rays, and solar events. In particular, the objective of the space mission is to investigate lithosphere-atmosphere-ionosphere coupling mechanisms (including the effects of lightning, earthquakes, volcanoes, and artificial electromagnetic emissions) that induce perturbations of the top side of the ionosphere and lower boundary of the radiation belts. To this purpose, the mission has been conceived to take advantage of a multi-instrument payload comprising nine detectors for the measurement of electromagnetic field components, plasma parameters, and energetic particles, as well as X-ray flux. The Italian team participating in the CSES mission has built one of these devices, the High-Energy Particle Detector (HEPD), for high-precision observations of electrons, protons, and light nuclei. During its trip along the orbit, and thanks to the large set of detectors operated on board, CSES completely monitors the Earth, acting as an excellent instrument for space weather. The satellite was launched on 2018 February 2, with an expected life span of 5 yr. This article describes the CSES mission with a particular focus on the HEPD apparatus and its in-flight performance.
Radioguided surgery (RGS) is a medical practice which thanks to a radiopharmaceutical tracer and a probe allows the surgeon to identify tumor residuals up to a millimetric resolution in real-time. ...The employment of β− emitters, instead of γ or β+, reduces background from healthy tissues, administered activity to the patient, and medical exposure. In a previous work the possibility of using a CMOS Imager (Aptina MT9V011), initially designed for visible light imaging, to detect β− from 90Y or 90Sr sources has been established. Because of its possible application as counting probe in RGS, the performances of MT9V011 in clinical-like conditions were studied.11This work financed by Istituto Nazionale Fisica Nucleare, Italy, project CHIR2, and partially supported by Universitá degli Studi di Perugia, Italy , Fondo Ricerca di Base 2017, project SEISIPO.
Through horizontal scans on a collimated 90Sr source of different sizes (1, 3, 5, 7 mm), we have determined relationships between scan fit parameters and the source dimension, namely A quadratic correlation and a linear dependency of, respectively, signal integrated over scan interval, and maximum signal against source diameter, are determined. Horizontal scan measurements on a source, interposing collimators of different size, aim to determine relationships or correlations between scan fit parameters and source dimension. A quadratic correlation and a linear dependency of, respectively, signal integrated over scan interval, and maximum signal against source diameter are determined.
In order to get closer to clinical conditions, agar–agar phantoms containing 90Y with different dimensions and activities were prepared. A 90Y phantom is characterized by a central spot and a ring all around, for simulating both signal (tumor) and background (surrounding healthy tissue). The relationship found between scan maximum and 90Sr source diameter is then exploited to extract the concentration ratio between spot and external ring of the 90Y phantom. This observable, defined as the ratio between the tumor and the nearby healthy tissues uptake simulates the Tumor-to-Non-tumor Ratio (TNR). With the aim of evaluating the sensor’s ability to discriminate signal from background relying on the significance parameter, a further 90Y phantom, featuring a well-known and clinical-like activity will mimic the signal only condition. This result is used to extrapolate to different source sizes, after having estimated the background for various TNR. The obtained significance values suggest that the MT9V011 sensor is capable of distinguishing a signal from an estimated background, depending on the interplay among TNR, acquisition time and tumor diameter.
•A CMOS imager has been used as sensor for beta- emission from isotopes (90Y) of interest in Radioguided surgery.•Using a position scan a correlation between the source dimension and the shape of the response has been found.•The sensitivity of the sensor to tumor detection has been determined by studying the interplay among TNR, acquisition time and tumor diameter.
Following the decision to maintain the International Space Station (ISS) on orbit until at least 2020 (possibly until 2028) the AMS collaboration decided to correspondingly extend the lifetime of the ...experiment. Since the limited amount of helium used to cool the superconducting magnet allowed for only a limited run time of the experiment, a change from the superconducting magnet to the permanent magnet used in AMS-01 became necessary. Due to the lower magnetic field, to maintain the resolution the silicon tracker also had to be reconfigured with the installation of a silicon plane on the top of the experiment and a new plane above the electromagnetic calorimeter.
Bent silicon crystals mounted on high-accuracy angular actuators were installed in the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) and extensively tested to assess the feasibility of crystal-assisted ...collimation in circular hadron colliders. The adopted layout was exploited and regularly upgraded for about a decade by the UA9 Collaboration. The investigations provided the compelling evidence of a strong reduction of beam losses induced by nuclear inelastic interactions in the aligned crystals in comparison with amorphous orientation. A conceptually similar device, installed in the betatron cleaning insertion of CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC), was operated through the complete acceleration and storage cycle and demonstrated a large reduction of the background leaking from the collimation region and radiated into the cold sections of the accelerator and the experimental detectors. The implemented layout and the relevant results of the beam tests performed in the SPS and in the LHC with stored proton and ion beams are extensively discussed.
Penetrating particle ANalyzer (PAN) Wu, X.; Ambrosi, G.; Azzarello, P. ...
Advances in space research,
04/2019, Volume:
63, Issue:
8
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
PAN is a scientific instrument suitable for deep space and interplanetary missions. It can precisely measure and monitor the flux, composition, and direction of highly penetrating particles ...(>∼100 MeV/nucleon) in deep space, over at least one full solar cycle (11 years). The science program of PAN is multi- and cross-disciplinary, covering cosmic ray physics, solar physics, space weather and space travel. PAN will fill an observation gap of galactic cosmic rays in the GeV region, and provide precise information of the spectrum, composition and emission time of energetic particle originated from the Sun. The precise measurement and monitoring of the energetic particles is also a unique contribution to space weather studies. PAN will map the flux and composition of penetrating particles, which cannot be shielded effectively, precisely and continuously, providing valuable input for the assessment of the related health risk, and for the development of an adequate mitigation strategy. PAN has the potential to become a standard on-board instrument for deep space human travel.
PAN is based on the proven detection principle of a magnetic spectrometer, but with novel layout and detection concept. It will adopt advanced particle detection technologies and industrial processes optimized for deep space application. The device will require limited mass (20 kg) and power (20 W) budget. Dipole magnet sectors built from high field permanent magnet Halbach arrays, instrumented in a modular fashion with high resolution silicon strip detectors, allow to reach an energy resolution better than 10% for nuclei from H to Fe at 1 GeV/n. The charge of the particle, from 1 (proton) to 26 (Iron), can be determined by scintillating detectors and silicon strip detectors, with readout ASICs of large dynamic range. Silicon pixel detectors used in a low power setting will maintain the detection capabilities for even the strongest solar events. A fast scintillator with silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) readout will provide timing information to determine the entering direction of the particle, as well as a high rate particle counter. Low noise, low power and high density ASIC will be developed to satisfy the stringent requirement of the position resolution and the power consumption of the tracker.
In the last few years a number of efforts have been undertaken to develop new technology related to Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs). These photosensors consist of an array of identical Avalanche ...Photodiodes operating in Geiger mode and connected in parallel to a single output. The Italian Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) is involved in the R&D program Progetto Premiale Telescopi CHErenkov made in Italy (TECHE.it) to develop photosensors for a SiPM based camera that will be part of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) observatory. In this framework tests are ongoing on innovative devices suitable to detect Cherenkov light in the blue and near-UV wavelength region, the so-called Near Ultra-Violet Silicon Photomultipliers (NUV SiPMs). The tests on photosensors produced by Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK) are revealing promising performance: low operating voltage, capability to detect very low intensity light down to a single photon and high Photo Detection Efficiency (PDE) in the range 390–410nm. In particular the developed device is a High Density NUV-SiPM (NUV-HD SiPM) based on a micro-cell of 30μm×30μm and 6mm×6mm area. Tests on this detector in single-cell configuration and in a matrix arrangement have been done. At the same time front-end electronics based on the waveform sampling technique optimized for the new NUV-HD SIPMs is under study and development.
The vertex detectors for the future hadronic colliders will operate under proton fluencies above 1016 p/cm2. Crystalline Silicon detector technology, up to now, has kept the pace of the increasing ...fluencies in the LHC era and it is still the prevalent vertex detector material for the present and for the immediate future. Looking ahead in time, an alternative solution for such a detector has to be found because for the future there is no guarantee that Crystalline Silicon will hold this challenge. For this reason the development of hydrogenated amorphous silicon vertex detectors based on 3D-technology have been proposed and the technological solutions in order to build these detectors are described in this paper.
Near UltraViolet High Density (NUV-HD) SiPMs produced by Fondazione Bruno Kessler in collaboration with INFN have been tested and characterized in INFN laboratories. The third generation of these ...devices (HD3) has proven to be suitable to equip the focal plane of the prototype Schwarzschild–Couder Medium Size Telescope (pSCT) proposed for the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory. Photosensors have been assembled in 4 16-pixel optical units coupled with TARGET–7 ASIC front-end electronics for amplification and digitization of the signal. At present, 9 modules have been successfully integrated on the pSCT camera and are currently taking data. In this contribution we report on the performances of the HD3 technology as single sensor and as assembled optical units, showing their performance and homogeneity in terms of gain and dark count rate.
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