Plasma Panel Based Particle Detector for High Energy Physics

High energy physics research has a need for new and advanced radiation detector structures with improved characteristics and lower cost to provide higher resolution capability for detecting, tracking and analyzing minimum ionizing particles created in the next generation of particle accelerators. This proposal addresses this need via development of a novel gaseous detector based on plasma display panel TV technology with a high gain, positional resolutions on the order of 100 microns, and sub-nanosecond rise times. The properties of a new class of low cost, digital counting, particle radiation sensors suggest that it could combine the best of several different detector technologies such as micropattern and GEM devices and Geiger-Mueller tubes into a high resolution, radiation damage resistant structure with important performance advantages. In Phase-I, the Principal Investigator will work with the ATLAS Muon Detector Group at the University of Michigan, Department of Physics to design, model and fabricate this new detector for high energy physics applications. The Phase-I program will entail materials and electronics circuit development, device fabrication and feasibility demonstration with technical analysis including numerical simulations. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits: The commercial applications for the proposed new radiation detector include nuclear medical imaging, homeland security, nonproliferation, nuclear accelerator beam and target diagnostics, and medical radiation therapeutics such as improved proton beam therapy for the treatment of cancer. Some of the potential medical imaging applications include lower cost and higher resolution detection for: X-ray multislice CT imagers, PET/CT, single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), computed tomography angiography (CTA), scintillation mammography, myocardial imaging, etc. For homeland security the proposed detectors could be used for active and passive radiation detection systems including: portal, parcel, cargo and vehicle monitors/radiography