High resolution, high efficiency liquid scintillator capillary array for gamma imaging

• Published in: Review of scientific instruments Vol. 89; no. 7; p. 073506
• Main Authors: Zhang, Mei, Hu, Huasi, Li, Kuinian, Peng, Bodong, Sheng, Liang, Hei, Dongwei, Li, Yang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01.07.2018
• ISSN: 1089-7623
• DOI: 10.1063/1.5026131

We fabricated a liquid scintillator capillary array (LSCA) for gamma imaging with the aim of developing a one-dimensional detector system utilizing a streak camera for high temporal and spatial resolution pulsed gamma radiation detection. The detector's performance was studied in a simulation and via an experiment. The maximum efficiency of the LSCA's emission was at a wavelength of 420 nm. To establish a high fidelity representation of the detector's edge spread function and modulation transfer function (MTF), a slanted edge algorithm was introduced to calculate the edge spread function of the discrete sampling array's image screen. The simulation results showed that the spatial resolution of the LSCA was better for 14 MeV neutrons than for 1.25 MeV gamma radiation. The experimental results show that in comparison with a 6-mm-thick LaBr image plate, the LSCA had a higher temporal and spatial resolution when used as a gamma detector. The spatial resolution was 1.1 lp/mm (MTF = 0.1) for the LSCA. In addition, when an ultra-violet streak camera was coupled with the LSCA, it had a comparable sensitivity to that of a 6-mm-thick LaBr image plate.