LARGE AREA NUCLEAR PARTICLE DETECTORS USING ET MATERIALS TM

LARGE AREA (UNLIMITED SIZE) TWO-DIMENSIONAL POSITION-SENSITIVE (ABOUT 0.1MM) SOLID-STATE NUCLEAR PARTICLE DETECTORS ARE PROPOSED FOR FEASIBILITY INVESTIGATION USING QUANTEX-DEVELOPED ELECTRON-TRAPPING (ET)MATERIALS. IMPINGEMENT OF HIGH-ENERGY (COMPARED TO 2EV) NUCLEAR PARTICLES OR IONIZING PHOTONS PRODUCES BOTH LOCAL VISIBLE-WAVELENGTH SCINTILLATION AND TRAPPING OF EXCITED ELECTRONS IN THE ET MATERIAL FILM APPLIED TO A SUBSTRATE. SUBSEQUENT ILLUMINATION BY NEAR-INFRARED OF 0.8 TO 1.2 MICRON WAVELENGTH RELEASES THE TRAPPED ELECTRONS AND PRODUCES VISIBLE-WAVELENGTH LIGHT FROM THE PARTICLE IMPINGEMENT SPOTS. INTEGRATING INTERVALS MAY BE CHOSEN AT WILL (UP TO YEARS) AND APPLYING NEAR-INFRARED AT HIGHER IRRADIANCE LEVELS CAN ERASE THE PATTERN. READOUT CAN BE ACCOMPLISHED WITH COMMON SOLID-STATE VIDEO CAMERAS AND RECORDED DURING NEAR-INFRARED ILLUMINATION, OR WITH A VISIBLE-RANGE PHOTOMULTIPLIER AND A COMMON NEAR-INFRARED SEMICONDUCTOR DIODE LASER SCANNING THE SURFACE FOR EXTREMELY LOW IMPINGEMENT RATES.