Speaker
Description
The Simon Fraser University Nuclear Science Laboratory (NSL) is home to the SCI-CASTER project, which aims to develop position-sensitive ionization chamber detector technologies for precision charged particle measurements. Modern waveform digitization and analysis methods enable this by allowing for the direct application of the Shockley-Ramo theorem to the induced charge signals of the ionization chamber, yielding measurements of charge drift times and track proximity to detector electrodes.
Additionally, refurbishment of the 8Pi gamma-ray spectrometer array has been underway at the NSL to bring all 132 inner-layer Bismuth Germanium Oxide (BGO) scintillator detectors and 20 outer-layer Compton-Suppressed Spectrometers (CSS) to full operation with modern amplification, high-voltage, and data acquisition hardware. To date, the BGO inner-layer has been brought to full performance.
The combination of a SCI-CASTER detector with the 8Pi spectrometer will in principle allow coupled alpha/beta/gamma spectroscopy to be carried out at SFU, resulting in the full characterization of long-lived isotope decay chains and enhancing minute sample contamination detection through the application of high-efficiency and high-precision data acquisition. The in-progress design of the proposed SCI-CASTER detector will be presented, alongside intermediate results of the simulation and prototype testing phases of the project.