Low Cost, High Speed, High Sensitivity Detector for Material Science Studies

Advanced photon sources, capable of providing extremely high X-ray intensities, have proven to be outstanding resources for X-ray scattering and time-resolved diffraction studies of materials such as organic semiconductors used in electronics, photodiode, and photovoltaic applications, and biological materials such as non-crystalline biological systems. The problem, however, is in finding a detector that can acquire multiple frames of detailed structural information on the required millisecond time scale with high spatial resolution and high sensitivity, over a large area. Recent detector designs address some of these requirements, but even though none satisfies all of them, they are still prohibitively expensive. Development of new and cost-effective detectors that can simultaneously address all of these demanding needs is the key to fully exploiting these outstanding new X-ray sources. To address these limitations we propose to develop a novel X-ray imaging detector that can simultaneously provide millisecond time resolution, high spatial resolution, large imaging area, sensitivity to detect individual low-energy X-rays above noise, and wide dynamic range, all at a very low cost compared to current detector systems. Our approach takes advantage of revolutionary new developments in low-cost readouts, and counterbalances their limitations using novel system components such as an advanced new scintillator from RMD. The Phase I research accomplished, and in many respects exceeded, all stated goals, and as such successfully demonstrated the feasibility of developing a low-cost, high-performance detector for materials studies and other synchrotron applications. We have developed technologies to fabricate the new scintillator with the desired properties, and have combined this sensor with a high-speed readout to form a prototype detector. The detector thus produced has been thoroughly evaluated in our laboratory as well as at the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS) at Brookhaven National Laboratory and the Advanced Photon Source (APS) at Argonne National Laboratory to demonstrate its sensitivity, resolution, and speed of operation. The Phase II project will build on the Phase I research and will seek to develop and deliver a fully functional large-area detector for advanced materials studies to be performed at the NSLS and the APS synchrotron beamlines. Efforts for commercialization of the technology will also be undertaken during the proposed research. Commercial applications and other benefits: Beside its exceptional value in critical time-resolved X-ray diffraction and scattering studies of biological systems, this detector will find widespread use in many areas of medical imaging, high speed computed tomography, non-destructive testing, and basic physics research. Due to its high performance, compact nature and very low cost, the proposed detector will be ideally suited for homeland security applications ranging from baggage scanning to detection of biological agents without contaminating the detector system.