Radiation Hard High Speed Camera System for Accelerator Beam Diagnostics

In the DOE SBIR topic 24h, Accelerator Control and Diagnostics, the Office of Nuclear Physics seeks grant applications for the development of triggerable, high speed optical and/or IR cameras, with associated MByte- scale digital frame grabbers for investigating time dependent phenomena in accelerator beams. Image capture equipment needs to operate in a high-radiation environment and have a frame capture rate of up to 1 MHz. Imaging system needs to have memory capacity at the level of 1000 frames. The cameras will be used for high- speed analysis of optical transition or optical diffraction radiation data. General statement of how this problem or situation is being addressed: In response to Department of Energy SBIR topic 24h, Alphacore Inc. will develop a radiation-tolerant, triggerable, high speed imaging chip and a full camera system that can be used in high speed nuclear physics polarization experiments, as well as for investigating time dependent phenomena in accelerator beams. The chip is sensitive to optical wavelengths and it includes innovative digital frame grabbers based on ultra-low-power in- pixel analog to digital converters and digital data storage cells. The chip is capable of storing 200 – 1,000 frames on the chip with a frame capture rate exceeding 1 MHz on the burst mode. The feasibility of the design will be evaluated in the Phase I program and Alphacore’s goal is to get a 1 megapixel camera designed and tested during the Phase II period. The significance of this innovation is that there currently exists a critical need for these types of cameras in nuclear physics polarization experiments and in analyzing off-normal behavior in accelerator beams. Commercial applications and other benefits: The market size is approximately 1,000 cameras in the USA based nuclear physics facilities alone. When nuclear physics facilities worldwide, as well as high energy physics research facilities, are counted the market size gets multiplied. The camera also finds use in medical research, namely in fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) applications.