THE DEVELOPMENT OF A METHOD FOR GREATLY INCREASING THE COUNT-RATE CAPABILITY AND ENDURANCE OF POSITION-SENSITIVE DETECTOR SYSTEMS

THE PRINCIPAL OBJECTIVE OF THIS RESEARCH IS THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NOVEL TECHNIQUE THAT WILL GREATLY INCREASE THE COUNT-RATE CAPABILITY AND ENDURANCE OF POSITION-SENSITIVE DETECTOR SYSTEMS WITHOUT COMPROMISING SPATIAL, ANGULAR, OR ENERGY RESOLUTION. SUCH AN IMPROVED DETECTOR SYSTEM IS CAPABLE OF REMOVING SOME OF THE LIMITATIONS IMPOSED BY PRESENT DETECTORS ON MATERIAL RESEARCH AT SYNCHROTRON RADIATION FACILITIES AND INTENSE NEUTRON SOURCES. THE INCREASE IN COUNT-RATE CAPABILITY IS MADE POSSIBLE BY COMBINING A DETECTOR TECHNOLOGY THAT USES ONE OUTPUT CHANNELPER PIXEL WITH A NOVEL CHARGE-CENTROID-FINDING METHOD THAT IS CAPABLE OF OPERATING AT COUNT RATES OF 10(5) PHOTONS OR NEUTRONS PER SECOND PER PIXEL. THE DETECTOR ENDURANCE IN HIGH INTENSITY SOURCE ENVIRONMENTS IS IMPROVED BECAUSE THE LOW OUTPUT CHARGE REQUIREMENT OF 10-(14)C PER DETECTED EVENTINCREASES DETECTOR LIFE BY MITIGATING EROSION AND RADIATION DAMAGE PROBLEMS. WITHIN THE SCOPE OF PHASE I, A PROTOTYPICAL, MULTIWIRE DETECTOR SYSTEM WILL BE INSTRUMENTEDTO STUDY THIS NOVEL APPROACH AND DETERMINE ITS POTENTIAL FOR ADVANCING THE STATE OF THE ART OF DETECTORS FOR SCATTERING AND DIFFRACTION OF NEUTRONS AND PHOTONS IN MATERIALS SCIENCE APPLICATIONS WITH HIGH INTENSITY SOURCES. THE RESULTS OBTAINED WILL SERVE AS A BASE FOR FUTURE DEVELOPMENT, DURING PHASE II, OF A NEW GENERATION OF POSITION-SENSITIVE DETECTORS FOR THESE APPLICATIONS.