Silicon photomultipliers embedded in scintillator
| DWPI Title: Scintillator for scintillation detector, has silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) positioned in organic glass (OGS) material while OGS material is above glass transition temperature and cooled to amorphous solid state |
| Abstract: A scintillator having a silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) embedded therein is described. The scintillator comprises an amorphous organic glass scintillator (OGS) material having a glass transition temperature above which the OGS material behaves as a supercooled or stable liquid, and a SiPM having a lead coupled thereto and having a temperature tolerance greater than the glass transition temperature of the OGS material. The SiPM is positioned in the OGS material while the OGS material is in a liquid state above the glass transition temperature, and the OGS material is cooled to an amorphous solid state below the glass transition temperature with the SiPM embedded therein. |
| Use: Scintillator for use in petroleum drilling and exploration, radiation protection, medical imaging, high-energy particle physics, and radioactive material detection and characterization. |
| Advantage: The scintillators having irregular and/or customized shapes can be provided for fitting into custom spaces within a scintillation detector housing, which facilitates reducing detector size, weight, cost, etc. The internal reflective material can be selected to have a higher melting point than the highest temperature to which the OGS material is subjected during the scintilator formation. The external reflective material is wrapped around or otherwise positioned on external surfaces of the solidified scintifier to reflect escaping light back into the scitterillator material, where it can be detected by the SiPM |
| Novelty: The scintillator (102) has an organic glass scintillation (OGS) material having a glass transition temperature above which the OGS material exhibits supercooled liquid characteristics and below which the material is in an amorphous solid state. A silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) (104) has a lead (106) coupled to it and having a temperature tolerance greater than the transition temperature of the material. The SiPM is positioned in the material while it is above the temperature. The material is cooled to the solid state below the temperature with the SiPM. |
| Filed: 5/30/2024 |
| Application Number: US18678502A |
| Tech ID: SD 16413.0 |
| This invention was made with Government support under Contract No. DE-NA0003525 awarded by the United States Department of Energy/National Nuclear Security Administration. The Government has certain rights in the invention. |
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