IEEE NUCLEAR SCIENCE SYMPOSIUM
& MEDICAL IMAGING CONFERENCE
21ST SYMPOSIUM ON ROOM-TEMPERATURE
SEMICONDUCTOR X-RAY AND GAMMA-RAY DETECTORS
Washington State Convention Center • Seattle, WA USA • 8-15 November 2014

NSS

For more than 60 years, the IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium (NSS) has been the premier venue for presentation of the latest developments in radiation detection technology, for fundamental nuclear and particle physics, and for such diverse applications as nuclear nonproliferation, medicine, and environmental remediation. The 2014 Symposium offers a comprehensive review of important work in radiation detection technology that is relevant to all these fields. The conference program will dovetail with that of the Medical Imaging Conference, which is held the same week. Topics relevant to both conferences will be covered in special joint sessions. Papers describing original, previously unpublished work are organized into the NSS topics areas listed below. In 2014 we have chosen to conduct fewer parallel sessions to reduce overlap and to make the conference program somewhat easier to navigate.

The symposium program this year consists of 256 oral and 450 poster papers, which are presented in two Plenary Sessions, 36 NSS parallel oral sessions, and two poster sessions. We chose this program from the over 800 submitted abstracts from colleagues working on numerous NSS topics allowing an excellent scientific program.

One of the highlights of the symposium will be the three NSS Plenary Sessions on Monday, November 10, 2014 (08:30-12:00) and where leading experts in our fields will shed light on the outstanding current and planned research frontiers:

  • Prof. Olga Botner on "The Mystery of Mass and the Higgs Boson" 
  • Dr. Christoph Richter on "Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) - Solar power on demand"
  • Prof. Richard Gaitskell on "News from the Hunt for Dark Matter"

This Opening Plenary Session will be followed by the NSS Luncheon (12:00 - 14:00), during which Dr. Mark Lewney presents the physics of rock guitar using riffs from AC/DC, Slayer and Jimi Hendrix through amplifiers "Turned up to 11."

In addition, contributions bridging the fields of nuclear science, medical imaging and solid-state radiation detectors will be presented in one dedicated day for NSS/MIC/RTSD joint sessions on Wednesday.

To emphasize the importance of the Poster Contributions, all NSS posters will be visible from Monday morning to the end of the Conference, with no scheduled NSS parallel sessions during the 2-hour dedicated poster sessions.

Based on the positive feedback from the previous year we will have again refresher courses, organized during the lunch breaks.

We thank everyone who submitted presentations for consideration. We thank the almost 400 reviewers who contributed their valuable time to read and assess the submitted papers, and the 34 NSS Topic Conveners for their tireless efforts of organizing the symposium program topics, and completing the program within the scheduled time, despite the very large number of submitted abstracts. Lastly, we thank the presenters themselves, recognizing that the quality of the oral and poster presentations is central to the success of the Nuclear Science Symposium.

Please don't hesitate to contact us with your feedback, suggestions, and questions, by sending an email to nss2014-org@desy.de.

We sincerely hope you will enjoy the exciting 2014 IEEE NSS/MIC/RTSD and are looking forward to meeting you in Seattle, Washington in November this year.


Ingrid-Maria Gregor
NSS Program Chair
DESY - Germany

Adam Bernstein
NSS Deputy Program Chair
LLNL - USA

Analog and Digital Circuits

Analog and Digital Circuits has always been a very active topic of NSS. Since the first radiation detection measurements, readout circuits have been the fundamental connection between the physics of the detector and that of the measurement. The evolution of this field has been guided by the nature of the ever-changing world of radiation detectors, but has also had the unique opportunity of leveraging on progress made thanks to tangible investments in non-directly related fields: for example, progress made in Silicon devices technology has undoubtedly had significant repercussions in the field of radiation detection electronics. Thanks to this unique advantage, the world of circuit design for radiation instrumentation has always offered interesting discoveries and unique techniques. We are looking forward to continuing the tradition in 2014.

The Analog and Digital Circuits sessions of the 2014 NSS will cover a wide range of sub-topics from different applications, ranging from circuit design techniques to implementation, testing and manufacturing. We encourage submissions that describe, but are not limited to:

Techniques:

  • Discrete and integrated circuits in analog, digital and mixed-signal
  • Front-end electronics
  • Analog signal processing
  • Digital signal processing
  • Power reduction techniques
  • Power conversion and distribution
  • Analog-to-digital conversion
  • Triggers
  • High speed techniques
  • Novel uses for Field Programmable Gate Arrays

Applications:

  • Astrophysics
  • High energy physics
  • Nuclear physics
  • Homeland security
  • Treaty verification
  • Nuclear forensics

Challenges:

  • Low noise designs
  • Low power designs
  • High density designs
  • Low cost designs
  • High or low operating temperatures, unusual environments

Topic Conveners: Lorenzo Fabris, ORNL, USA - Valerio Re, Univ. Bergamo, Italy

Astrophysics and Space Instrumentation

The universe is one of the challenging fields to explore violent condition of matters, evolution of elements, dynamics of large-scale structures, and cutting-edge of fundamental physics. Current operating missions in space (e.g. Fermi GLAST, AMS‐02, Integral, PAMELA) and on ground, including deep underground labs, are giving us fruitful results with innovative detectors.

The hot and energetic Universe and the search for elusive gravitational waves will be the focus of ESA’s next two large science missions, Athena+ and NGO are sitting in the front row to explore these fields in the future. M-Class missions like Euclid are in advanced study phases; a Japanese X-ray satellite, Astro-H, is under construction and scheduled to leave early 2015; many experiments are proposed as NASA's satellite missions. Demands on detectors are growing for those future missions. A balloon flight is an affordable way to access the space; many missions are ongoing or planned for physics or astrophysics, or to test a detector for future missions. On ground, many projects such as HESS and Magic for TeV gamma-ray, Pierre Auger observatory for ultra-high energy cosmic rays, are studying astrophysics or elementary physics.. The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is under development and will use new detector technologies and push the TeV astronomy even further. At deep underground labs around the world, dark matter search experiments such as LUX, XENON1T, SuperCDMS and others are ongoing to explore new physics beyond the Standard Model.

On the other hand, the detectors themselves are improving rapidly based on the recent evolution of technology. There are many progresses on solid state detectors, such as CCDs, CdTe, or CZT, for X-ray imaging and spectroscopy. APDs and SiPMs are studied for new cameras for TeV telescopes and LHC silicon detectors are exploited in new applications for X-ray satellites. New micro pixel gas detectors are developed with sophisticated read-out analogue ASICs. New crystals are used for next generation scintillation counters. Demands on calorimeters for ultra high-resolution spectroscopy push up cryogenic technologies in space. Noble liquid detectors are pushing the frontier of low background rare event searches for dark matter and neutrino-less double beta decay. Accompanying with the innovation of the detectors, the number of readout channels is expanding these days. Their hundreds or thousands of channels require a sophisticated on‐board data acquisition and processing system. X-ray mirrors with newly developed technologies, such as MEMS, are one of the key devices for future missions, and Gamma-ray focusing lens have potential to explore the high-energy processes in universe such as an electron-positron annihilation line or nuclear decay lines from nucleosynthesis.

The main topics to be covered are:

  • Space, ground and underground missions for astrophysics and particle physics
  • Innovative X-ray, gamma-ray, and particle detectors
  • Progresses on solid state and gas/liquid detectors
  • Imaging detectors and spectrometers
  • Calorimeter and cryogenic technologies in space
  • Analogue readout ASIC
  • Data acquisition and processing system
  • Progresses on X-ray telescopes or gamma-ray lenses
  • Balloon flight missions and technologies

Topic Conveners: Daniel Haas, SRON, The Netherlands - Kaixuan Ni, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China

Computing and Software for Experiments

Computing and Software for Experiments has undergone rapid growth in recent years and is now among the most active topics within the NSS. Large increases in data throughput, processing power, and experiment complexity have all contributed to an increased emphasis on computing and software needed to collect and analyze data. Concurrent advances in computing platforms and analysis tools are required to keep pace. The NSS sessions on Computing and Software will cover wide range of tools and applications in the field, with an emphasis on submission that address the following:

  • Techniques:
    • Workflow Management
    • High Level Triggering
    • Reconstruction Methods
    • Monte Carlo Simulation
    • Signal Extraction
    • Fitting and Optimization
  • Applications:
    • Medical Physics
    • Nuclear Security
    • Radiation Detection
    • High Energy and Nuclear Physics
    • Astrophysics and Space Science
  • Challenges:
    • Realtime Data Reduction and Fusion
    • Novel and Hybrid Architectures
    • Distributed Computing
    • Large/Complex Data Sets

Topic Conveners: Steffen Hauf, XFEL Hamburg, Germany - Ron Soltz, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, USA

Data Acquisition and Analysis System

The field of data acquisition and analysis systems is a key element of several areas of the experimental sciences. In the past, many DAQ systems required custom-built hardware and software. In recent years, the telecom market and web technologies have driven new standards like Advanced Telecommunications Computing Architecture (ATCA). This allows DAQ systems to use commodity hardware and software components. The trend has been accelerated with the increasing performance of networking and computing. Commodity components together with custom-designed hardware, firmware and software modules coexist in the same system. Signal processing is performed completely in the digital domain using state-of-the-art field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), graphic processing units (GPU) or application specific integrated circuits (ASIC). The front-end systems are becoming more powerful and housing increased capabilities. New questions are been posed for large systems such as system testing and debugging, reliability and fault tolerant systems and online calibration. The NSS sessions on Data Acquisition and Analysis Systems will cover this wide range of systems and applications in the field.

We encourage submissions that include (but not limited) the following areas:

  • Data acquisition and event builders
  • System architectures
  • Intelligent signal processing
  • Programmable devices
  • Processing farms
  • Fast data transfer links, switches and networks
  • Control, calibration, monitoring, and test systems
  • New hardware and software standards
  • Emerging technologies

Applications:

  • Nuclear and High Energy Physics
  • Fusion
  • Astrophysics and Space Science
  • Synchrotron radiation
  • Medical Physics
  • Nuclear and Home Land Security
  • Material Sciences

Topic Conveners: Ryosuke Itoh, KEK, Japan - Sergio Zimmermann, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA

Detectors Synchrotron Radiation and FEL Instrumentation

In the last decades, the increased brilliance of state-of-the-art synchrotron radiation sources and the advent of Free Electron Lasers (FELs) have enabled tremendous advances in a wide variety of scientific fields, from condensed matter to materials science, chemistry and biology. In many cases advances in instrumentation, as for instance detection technologies, have played a key-role in successful experiments.

Further increases of photon beam luminosity, with high degree of coherence, promised by future-generation storage rings and very high repetition rate FELs will enable new exciting studies of complex systems and ultrafast processes.

New and improved detector concepts are and will remain essential to fully exploit the scientific opportunities offered by existing and upcoming photon sources.

This session offers a platform for scientific exchange on photon science detector system development, addressing specific challenges of the field such as:

  • Large imaging area detectors
  • Fast readout imaging detectors
  • Energy resolving detectors
  • Photon beam diagnostics
  • Soft x-ray detectors
  • Detectors for high photon energies
  • Systems with very high dynamic range
  • Detector electronics
  • Data acquisition and processing systems
  • System integration
  • Calibration techniques, analysis and visualization tools

Topic Conveners: Gabriella Carini, SLAC, USA - Cornelia Wunderer, DESY, Germany

Gaseous Detectors

More than a century after the invention of the first gaseous detectors the field is still in development. The last few years have seen the introduction of large area micropattern gas detectors in the muon systems of high energy physics experiments, the coming of age of microscopic trackers and time projection chambers read out with pixel chips, development of dual and single phase Dark Matter detectors, and an expansion of technical possibilities for using resistive elements in gaseous detectors, among many others. Meanwhile, more classical wire chambers and resistive plate chambers have shown extraordinary performance in challenging environments such as the experiments at the LHC.

We solicit contributions covering new developments, emerging techniques and novel concepts, as well as status and performance reports and upgrade plans of existing gaseous detectors. This year's gas detector sessions will include the following topics:

  • New technologies
  • Tracking and triggering
  • Gas detector simulation
  • Aging studies
  • Neutron detectors
  • Cryogenic detectors

Topic Conveners: Phil Barbeau, Duke University, USA - Serge Duarte Pinto, TU Delft, The Netherlands

High Energy Physics Instrumentation

High Energy Physics (HEP) studies the fundamental constituents of matter and their interactions. This requires the highest energies and extreme interaction rates, making high energy and high intensity accelerators as well as detector systems optimized for these facilities the central tools of the field.

The presently most prominent facility is the Large Hadron Collider LHC, which will operate at close to full design energy from next year on after a very successful first running period which culminated in the discovery of a Higgs boson. This discovery has focused the planning for future large colliders at the energy frontier, such as the International Linear Collider, an electron-positron collider capable of a precise exploration of the Higgs, Top and electroweak sector and with complementary reach for New Physics, and possible future facilities at CERN, including the multi-TeV Compact Linear Collider and a very high energy hadron collider. Besides these projects at the highest energies, there are other facilities in operation and under construction which explore the intensity frontier of particle physics with extremely high interaction rates at lower energies.

The detector systems at these facilities are instrumental to achieve the ambitious physics goals. Advancement in technologies on all aspects of these complex systems is critical to meet the requirements imposed by upgrades of existing accelerators and by the planned future facilities. This session will review the current status of high energy physics detectors and will cover the advancements and future prospects in various areas. The focus will be on understanding challenges in making progress in the current detector systems and technologies and specifying R&D needs to establish solutions to outstanding physics problems anticipated in the future.

The HEP instrumentation sessions covers the following key topics:

  • HEP Detector Systems
  • Neutrino Detectors
  • Calorimetry
  • Tracking and Vertexing Systems
  • Muon and PID detectors
  • Beam Instrumentation
  • Test Beam Facilities

Topic Conveners: Frank Simon, Max-Planck-Institut for Physics, Germany - Jae Yu, University of Texas at Arlington, USA

Instrumentation for Nuclear Security Applications

These sessions will present new results on techniques for the detection, localization, and characterization of materials of interest for nuclear security, in particular, special nuclear material. These techniques are of interest in many applications in the areas of nuclear safeguards, arms control, nonproliferation, and counterterrorism. Particularly challenging applications include treaty verification, proliferation detection, unattended safeguards, wide-area search in urban and suburban environments, detection of highly-shielded materials (e.g., material shipped in a cargo container), detection along unattended land borders, waterways, and of materials transported by general aviation aircraft. Detection platforms include fixed and mobile land-based systems, airborne systems, and maritime systems. Advanced system concepts, detector performance, and algorithms are needed to enhance or enable such applications as well as leveraging of multiple radiological and/or non-radiological signatures. System concepts include active interrogation, stand-off detection, and distributed sensors.

Detector classes range from neutron and gamma ray spectroscopic personal radiation detectors, to handhelds and backpacks, to large-area detectors, to advanced imaging detectors. Detection, radionuclide identification, and imaging algorithms are of high interest, as well as advanced algorithms for fusing data from multiple detectors and/or multiple signatures. Experimental and simulation-based performance assessments to characterize existing techniques and to guide the development of new, more advanced techniques is also of interest. Such assessments rely on accurate representations of threat and non-threat scenarios to maximize the probability of detection while minimizing the occurrence of false and nuisance alarms.


Note that contributions to the NSS that are primarily about a new detector material should be submitted to the Scintillators, Semiconductor Topic Area or New Concepts on Solid State Detectors. In addition, contributions that are primarily about electronics development should be submitted to the Analog and Digital Electronics Topic Area.

Topic Conveners: Simon Labov, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, USA - Karl Pitts, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, USA

Neutron Detectors and Instrumentation

Scientists and researchers specialized in fields related to Neutron Detection are invited to contribute to this session. Specifically, contributions relating to the following topics are encouraged:

  • Cutting edge development of neutron detectors with the following characteristics:
    • Large-area thermal neutron detectors
    • Combined neutron and gamma-ray detectors
    • Gamma-ray rejection methods and algorithms
    • Systems and methods for multiplicity counting
    • Novel detection systems meeting requirements for high count rate, position sensitivity, or fast neutron spectroscopy
    • Compact, low-power, rugged detectors
  • He-3 Developments:
    • The He-3 supply limitations and possible supplies
  • Applications:
    • Nuclear safeguards including high flux measurements at nuclear facilities/li>
    • Cosmic ray neutron spectroscopy and space applications
    • Characterization of neutron background at accelerators and in underground experiments
    • National and homeland security
    • Fundamental research with neutrons
    • Neutron diffraction and scattering experiments
    • Experiments with cold neutrons
    • Neutron detection for petroleum and gas exploration
    • Neutron based techniques for material analysis and nondestructive testing
    • Neutron radiography and tomography
    • Neutron spectrometry
  • Characterization of advanced and new facilities for neutron based research:
    • Time-of-Flight
    • Cold and ultra-cold neutrons
    • Polarized neutrons
    • Portable neutron sources

Topic Conveners: Robert Runkle, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, USA - John Valentine, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA

New Concepts in Solid-State Detectors

Solid state detectors are important for a wide range of fundamental and applied science. The largest ever built vertexing & tracking systems are being exploited at the Large Hadron Collider, while high purity germanium and sodium iodide detectors are workhorse detectors for a range of nuclear security and other industrial needs. Significant cross-disciplinary know-how has been growing in the scientific community, addressing state-of-the-art technology, material science, microelectronics, high-density interconnection techniques and system integration. As a result, one trend in the development of new solid-state detectors is the blending of technologies, with increasing integration of the nominal sensor, the electronic readout system, and the data processing system. Another important trend is the development of technologies for building structures and depositing layers, including those at the nano-dimension. A third is the development of a range of new solid state scintillator and ionization detection media with improved energy resolution, better particle identification and tracking capabilities, and other features.

In the IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium, sessions that address topics such as "Analog and Digital Circuits" refer to specific components of entire detection systems, while sessions such as "Nuclear Security", or "Astrophysics", relate to specific applications. The "New Concepts in Solid-State Detectors" session is intended to bridge these boundaries, and welcomes contributions related to qualified novel activities.

The following topics and beyond are provided to help guide abstract submissions

  • Position sensitive hybrid detectors with advanced interconnects
  • Position sensitive highly integrated calorimeters
  • Detectors with advanced embedded signal and data processing algorithms (for: position sensitivity, amplitude measurements, time measurements energy measurements, etc.)
  • Sensor embedded and sensor constrained front-end designs
  • New materials for sensors and readouts
  • Viability of new technologies
  • Non-typical use of established technologies
  • Detectors for pioneering applications beyond Medicine and Biology, which are specifically addressed in the dedicated sessions
  • Detectors of radiation based on other than charge principle, i.e. heat, sound, etc.
  • Detectors for extreme environments

Topic Conveners: Grzegorz Deptuch, FermiLab, USA - Marc Winter, IPHC Strasbourg, France

Nuclear Physics Instrumentation

Nuclear Physics Instrumentation covers a wide range of detector technologies for large scale nuclear physics experiments in areas from rare nuclear decays to heavy ion collisions. These include, but are not limited to, various types of particle tracking detectors, energy measuring devices (e.g.,calorimeters), scintillation detectors and particle identification systems. This topic typically focuses on large detector systems that are reporting on system performance, experience in long term operation, commissioning tests, beam test results, or proposed new or future detector systems for nuclear physics. Contributions are solicited on the following topics or related subjects:

  • Underground & low background detector systems
  • Calorimetry (both electromagnetic and hadronic)
  • Large scale tracking detectors, including silicon trackers, drift chambers, time projection chambers and micropattern detectors
  • High precision vertex detectors
  • Large scale scintillation detectors for measuring photons and/or charged particles
  • Neutron detectors
  • Cherenkov counters (both threshold and ring imaging)
  • Time of Flight detectors
  • Other types of particle identification detectors, such as Transition Radiation Detectors
  • Calibration systems for detectors used in nuclear physics experiments
  • Applications of nuclear physics instrumentation in other areas such as space science and nuclear astrophysics

Topic Conveners: Morgan Burks, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, USA - Azriel Goldschmidt, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA

Photodetectors and Radiation Imaging Detectors

Development of novel low light level sensors is a very active field because of potential applications in radiation imaging applications including: particle and astro-particle physics, Cherenkov imaging, material analysis, medical imaging, fast imaging, homeland security systems and neutron imaging. This session will review progress in the development of detection systems and detector components for radiation imaging as well as recent theoretical advances in the field. Special emphasis will be on recent progress in silicon-based matrices of Geiger avalanche diodes (SiPMs) and new developments of conventional PMTs and hybrid photo diodes (HPD) which can enable advanced imaging systems.

Experience gained from the deployment of radiation imaging detectors in large systems such as high-energy physics and neutrino experiments will be reviewed. It is anticipated that new developments in particle identification combining different techniques, such as Cherenkov light imaging & time-of-flight/time-of-propagation and applications of novel photodetectors in these applications will be discussed.

The session is expected to cover the following topics:

  • Radiation imaging theory and simulation
  • New radiographic imaging systems
  • Detector component technologies
  • Silicon photomultipliers
  • Multi-anode micro-channel plate (MCP) PMTs
  • PMTs with enhanced quantum efficiency
  • Hybrid photodetectors (HPDs)
  • Large area low cost light sensors
  • Radiation imaging techniques for large objects or areas
  • Radiographic imaging techniques for improved performance in nuclear and radiological threat detection
  • Muon imaging techniques

Topic Conveners: Peter Marleau, Sandia National Laboratory, USA - Anna Erickson, Georgia Tech, USA

Radiation Damage Effects and Radiation Hard Devices

Radiation Damage Effects frequently limit the applicability and the performance of detection materials, sensors, electronics, and detectors systems. Prime examples are the experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) where the impact of radiation damage has been observed during the three years of operation. Some parts of the LHC experiments have finite longevity due to these effects. They will need to be replaced to ensure viability of experimental program beyond the original design goals. Equally important however is the impact of Radiation Damage Effects on detection systems for medical and industrial applications, space research, synchrotron radiation research and many other fields.

Authors are invited to submit papers describing original contributions to the field of radiation hardness effects and instrumentation in the main following topics:

  • Results on radiation damage effects from actual experiments and a comparison to the models used for the prediction of radiation damage.
  • Evaluation of radiation fields for future experiments and applications and its effects on the detector system design and performance.
  • Microscopic Damage of materials for sensors and electronics, in particular questions related to the measurement techniques and the characterization of defects from different types of radiation, to the kinetics and the short‐ and long‐ term behaviour of defects, to the understanding of the relation between microscopic defects and macroscopic damage parameters, to annealing effects, and to the improvements of materials by defect engineering.
  • Macroscopic damage of sensor materials and electronics and its impact on the performance of electronics, sensors and detection systems in general as well as in specific experimental environments such as accelerator experiments and space missions.
  • Simulation of electronics and sensors and their performance, taking into account macroscopic and microscopic radiation damage effects with the aim to reliably predict their performance in different radiation fields.
  • Results on prototype studies, including radiation assessment of modules with integrated sensors and front-end electronics.

The study of radiation damage effects is an interdisciplinary field that requires experts on sensors and electronics and the scientists using the devices for their research to work in close collaboration. Molecular, solid state and particle physicists, as well as design engineers, have to join their effort to find a solution that fulfills the requirements of the intended physics program of the experiments and devices. The session on Radiation Damage Effects will provide the environment to discuss the latest developments in this complex field.

Topic Conveners: Alexandra Junkes, Hamburg University, Germany - Vitaliy Fadeyev, UC Santa Cruz, USA

Scintillators and Scintillation Detectors

The Nuclear Science Symposium has been at the forefront of scintillator research since Robert Hofstadter announced his discovery of thallium doped sodium iodide at the first symposium. Since that time, the ever increasing demands for higher performance radiation detection systems in applications ranging from medical imaging to high energy particle physics to national security have motivated researchers to discover, develop, and implement new scintillator technology. Over the last 60+ years, many of the key discoveries in this field have been reported at the Nuclear Science Symposium.

Scintillator research is a truly multidisciplinary field including contributions from solid-state physics, chemistry, optics, materials science, and crystallography. Successful implementation of scintillator technology requires in depth understanding of fundamental mechanisms, timing characteristics, energy resolution, light collection, optical coupling, thermal response, radiation damage, photodetectors, and readout electronics. The NSS provides an international forum for researchers, manufacturers, and end users to discuss the latest developments in the field and to anticipate future trends.

The topics to be covered include:

  • New scintillation materials
  • Fundamentals of scintillation mechanisms
  • Crystal growth and other synthesis technologies
  • Radiation damage mechanisms
  • Scintillators for neutron detection
  • Photodetectors and readout electronics
  • Applications in high energy and nuclear physics
  • Applications in homeland security
  • Applications in medical imaging
  • Applications in astrophysics
  • Applications in oil well logging

Topic Conveners: Etienette Auffrey Hillemanns, CERN, Switzerland - Chuck Melcher, UTK Knoxville, USA

Semiconductor Tracking and Spectroscopy

Semiconductor detectors are widespread for amplitude and position measurement in basic science - from high-energy physics to nuclear physics and photon science-, industrial use and medical science applications. The reason behind this diffusion is the excellent performance they can reach independent of the application field. Silicon Detectors segmented at different degrees are at the heart of all tracking systems for high-energy physics and will be the heart of the upgraded systems being designed. In addition, the very good energy resolution achievable with semiconductor detectors makes them the building block of most spectroscopy systems both in the X- and gamma ray range, often coupled to scintillating material if silicon is the detector base material.

Contributions are sought in the following areas (but not necessarily limited to):

  • Advancements in detector design and fabrication
  • Detector mosaic technologies and interconnections
  • Semiconductor detectors for tracking
  • Semiconductor detectors for spectroscopy
  • Exploitation of semiconductor detectors for tracking and/or spectroscopy into other scientific fields
  • Full detection systems based on semiconductor detectors, especially for high irradiation areas
  • Hybrid detection systems and CMOS-based detectors
  • Detector calibration issues

Status-report of existing detectors will only be taken into consideration if they intend to illustrate problems/anomalies of general interest discovered in the commissioning/data-taking phase or present discrepancies between expectations and measured performance.

Topic Conveners: Chiara Guazzoni, Politecnico di Milano and INFN, Italy - Susanne Kühn, Freiburg University, Germany

Trigger and Front-end Systems

Data acquisition techniques for modern particle detectors increasingly rely on fast and flexible, multi-level trigger systems in combination with pipelined readout architectures. In high energy particle physics, multi-level trigger systems are needed to reduce the massive data volumes to manageable levels; a pipelined readout is used to keep the dead-time of such systems to a minimum. Similar sophisticated trigger and readout techniques have been developed for particle detection systems in other research fields, e.g. medical imaging, nuclear and astro-physics, or homeland security applications.

This track aims to bring together experts in the field of trigger and front-end system development and should give an overview on the recent progress in this area. It should in particularly address the progress of the upgrades for the large particle physics experiments at LHC and KEK.

We are inviting abstract submissions which cover the following topics:

  • Front-end signal processing and data extraction
  • Ultra-fast timing digitizers and converters
  • Cutting-edge hardware developments, such as FPGA and SoC architectures
  • New trigger concepts and architectures
  • Feature extraction, low- and high-level trigger systems
  • Upgrades of existing large-scale experiments
  • Feedback, experiences and lessons from past and existing trigger and front-end systems

Topic Conveners: Martin Purschke, Brookhaven National Laboratory, USA - Hans-Christian Schultz-Coulon , University of Heidelberg, Germany

Ultra Fast Detectors

In order to reach the next level of performance in time resolution, 2D spatial resolution, efficiency and noise, detectors for electrons or soft photons may require new generic principles. Such a detector would output a time stamp for each individual particle, with a time resolution in the ps level, as well as the x- and y- coordinates of detection at μm resolution, with low noise levels. Some applications will require data rates above 25 Gbps. The development of Ultra Fast Single Soft Photon Detectors (UPDs) presently is one of the most relevant and dynamic areas of research in radiation technology.

The topics include the ultimate limits of SiPMs; new developments in other technologies: vacuum electron multipliers such as micro channel plates, and superconducting detectors, and the use of unique materials such as graphene, nano-grass, GaAs, and diamond. The session will also include new developments in the understanding of high-QE photocathodes.

Techniques:

  • Silicon CMOS technology, GaAs technology
  • (Medipix) pixel circuitry
  • MEMS technology
  • Vacuum Electron multiplication
    • Micro Channel Plates (MCPs)
    • (ultra thin) Transmission Dynodes
    • micro - (reflective) dynodes
  • High-efficiency photocathodes (QE)
  • Cryogenic detectors

Theory:

  • low-energy electron energy transfer in matter
  • Propagation & diffusion of electron/holes through matter
  • (vacuum facing surface) electron affinity: secondary electron yield
  • doping, coating, termination
  • Ab-initio simulations

Applications:

  • Medical imaging (CT, PET, SPECT)
  • True 3D imaging: metrology, machine view, robotics
  • Night vision
  • Reactor Monitoring
  • High energy physics
  • Nuclear physics
  • Astro Particle Physics
  • Space research, Astrophysics & Cosmology
  • (optical) data transmission

Challenges:

  • low cost
  • Time resolution from 100 ps, via 10 ps towards sub-1 ps per particle
  • High efficiency single soft photon or single free electron detection
  • Low bias current, low dark current, low dark count rate
  • High granularity, and high count rate per stand alone pixel
  • Pixel digitization with ps time resolution
  • Large-scale system clock distribution and synchronization
  • Large-scale system integration

Topic Conveners: Henry Frisch, University of Chicago, USA - Harry Van der Graaf, NIKHEF, The Netherlands