Development of gated fiber detectors for laser-induced strong electromagnetic pulse environments

• Published in: Nuclear science and techniques Vol. 32; no. 6; pp. 84 - 92
• Main Authors: Hu, Po, Ma, Zhi-Guo, Zhao, Kai, Zhang, Guo-Qiang, Fang, De-Qing, Wei, Bao-Ren, Fu, Chang-Bo, Ma, Yu-Gang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Singapore Springer Singapore 01.06.2021; School of Nuclear Sciences and Technology,University of Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100049,China; Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Shanghai 201800,China; School of Physical Science and Technology,Shanghai Tech University,Shanghai 201210,China; Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Ion-beam Application(MOE),Institute of Modern Physics,Fudan University,Shanghai 200433,China%Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Ion-beam Application(MOE),Institute of Modern Physics,Fudan University,Shanghai 200433,China%Shanghai Advanced Research Institute,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Shanghai 201210,China%School of Physical Science and Technology,Shanghai Tech University,Shanghai 201210,China; Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Ion-beam Application(MOE),Institute of Modern Physics,Fudan University,Shanghai 200433,China
• Subjects: Energy; Hadrons; Heavy Ions; Nuclear Energy; Nuclear Physics; Strong electromagnetic pulses; High-intensity laser; Gated fiber detector; Radiation detection
• ISSN: 1001-8042; 2210-3147
• DOI: 10.1007/s41365-021-00898-8

With the development of laser technologies, nuclear reactions can happen in high-temperature plasma environments induced by lasers and have attracted a lot of attention from different physical disciplines. However, studies on nuclear reactions in plasma are still limited by detecting technologies. This is mainly due to the fact that extremely high electromagnetic pulses (EMPs) can also be induced when high-intensity lasers hit targets to induce plasma, and then cause dysfunction of many types of traditional detectors. Therefore, new particle detecting technologies are highly needed. In this paper, we report a recently developed gated fiber detector which can be used in harsh EMP environments. In this prototype detector, scintillating photons are coupled by fiber and then transferred to a gated photomultiplier tube which is located far away from the EMP source and shielded well. With those measures, the EMPs can be avoided which may result that the device has the capability to identify a single event of nuclear reaction products generated in laser-induced plasma from noise EMP backgrounds. This new type of detector can be widely used as a time-of-flight (TOF) detector in high-intensity laser nuclear physics experiments for detecting neutrons, photons, and other charged particles.