Study of Timing Properties of

Scintillation and Straw tube Detectors

and application in Imaging

Aayushi Paul Supervisor:

University of Calcutta Dr. Saikat Biswas
Outline


Motivation

Scintillation and Straw tube detectors

Experimental details

Results

Applications

Discussions and Summary.
Motivation

● To study the timing properties of

Scintillators and Straw tube detectors
● Application of Scintillators in Imaging
Detectors
Detectors are devices used to detect a variety of charged, uncharged
and high energy quanta encountered in high energy physics
experiments.
Interaction of matter with incident radiation is used to detect any
radiation. The primary interaction between charged particles and the
electrons in the medium is Coulombic interaction leading to ionization
or excitations.

Types of Detectors:

Gaseous detectors

Scintillation Detectors

Semiconductor Detectors
Scintillation Detectors

Incident radiations induce excitation

of atoms.
De-excitation lead to emission of
visible photons which in turn get
absorbed by the photocathode and
thus get re-emitted as electrons.
Main components:

Scintillating material

Light guide

Photo Multiplier tube
Scintillating material of
polyvinyltoluene (PVT) containing
65% anthracene has been used
Perspex is used as a light guide.
Straw tube Detectors
Straw tube detectors are single wire
gaseous detectors.
Main Components:

Straw cathode

Anode wire
Incident radiations cause ionization
of gaseous atoms. Application of
high voltage between the
electrodes leads to the generation
of a high electric field causing the
drift of the electrons and ions to
the respective electrodes and
generation of signals.
Gold plated Tungsten wire of 30
micron diameter has been used as
anode while Kapton foil with an
MEASUREMENT OF TIMING
PROPERTIES
Calibration of TAC
Experimental Setup Time window: 50ns

F
SCINTILLATOR I
DISCRIMINATOR
F
O VARIABLE
DELAY
STAR STO
T P

TIME TO AMPLITUDE
OSCILLOSCOPE
CONVERTER
(TAC)


HV of
Scintillator set MULTI CHANNEL
ANALYSER
at 1550V (MCA) Time = 0.006 x (ch. no.) + 1.355

Discriminator
threshold set
Measurement of time resolution of plastic scintillators

Dimensions of the used scintillators

SC1 : 20 cm× 20 cm S SC
SC2 : 2 cm× 10 cm 2
11c 11
SC3 : 10 cm× 10 cm m
SC4 : 20 cm× 20 cm SC
3
HV: 1550 Volt
Threshold: 30 mV 26cm
External Delay at the stop signal : 10 SC
SC 1
ns 4
Time window : 50 ns
Spectra and Results

Start : SC2 and SC1 Start : SC2 and SC3

Stop : SC4 Stop : SC4
Start : SC3 and SC1 Start : SC3
Stop : SC4 Stop : SC4

Obtained time resolutions:

σ1= σ4 = 0.73 ± 0.02 ns
σ2 = 0.38 ± 0.02 ns
σ3 =0.56 ± 0.02 ns
Variation of time difference with PMT voltage
Experimental Setup

s cm

(46 – s) cm
Spectra Obtained
SC3 voltage set at 1550V SC3 voltage set at
SC4 voltage set at 1700V 1550V
Time : 18961s SC4 voltage set at
Source used : Na22 1700V
Without Source
Time : 8939s
Results
No Source used
SC3 voltage set at 1550V

Arrival time vs Voltage Time resolution vs Voltage

Results
Studies with displacement of Source
A gamma emitting source, Na22 was POSITION OF SOURCE
placed between two scintillators (from the top):
which were kept at a fixed distance ● 28cm

apart. Varying the position of the ● 18cm

source, the effect on the time ● 8cm

difference between the arrival of ● 5cm

signals and the time resolution were ● 35cm

studied. ● 43.5cm

SCINTILLATORS USED : External delay added to SC4 :

● SC3 (10cm x 10cm) 15.42 ns
Distance
● between
SC4 (20cm scintillators :
x 20cm)
46cm Time window : 50ns
EXPERIMENTAL SETUP

SC1 DISCRIMINATOR

SC3 DISCRIMINATO
R GATE
TAC

Na22
STAR
T

STO
SC4 DISCRIMINATOR P
Spectra Obtained
Threshold set at 15mV
Scintillators biased at
1550V
Na22 Source used Background Radiation

28cm from the

top and 18cm
from the
bottom.
Contribution from the Gamma source
Variation of time difference with distance
The previous setup
and the following
study uses the basic
idea of
t = ϲ/l
where t = time
difference
c = velocity of light
l= distance from the
top scintillator.
Time Resolution of Straw tube Detectors using Plastic Scintillators

Experimental Setup Scintillators used :

● SC2 (1cm x 10cm)

● SC3 (10cm x 10cm)

Start : SC2 and Straw

tube
Stop
Time :Resolution
SC3 of Straw tube
: 6.99ns
SC2 and SC3 kept at
1550V
Straw tube kept at 1800V
Time window : 10 µs
Subsequent studies
SC2 and SC3 voltages set at 1550V

Arrival time vs Voltage Time resolution vs Voltage

Subsequent studies
Efficiency vs Voltage
Counts registered and the
total time of measurement
was recorded for each
voltage.
Subsequently setting the
Straw tube voltage at an
optimum value, 612 counts
were registered in an hour on
an area of 0.6cm2. This has
been used as a normalization
factor.
Conclusions and Summary
Acknowledgment