Hans Ziock

An 800-MeV proton radiography facility for dynamic experiments

The capability has been successfully developed at the Los Alamos Nuclear Science Center (LANSCE) to utilize a spatially and temporally prepared 800-MeV proton beam to produce proton radiographs. A series of proton bursts are transmitted through a dynamically varying object and transported, via a unique magnetic lens system, to an image plane. The magnetic lens system permits correcting for the effects of multiple coulomb scattering which would otherwise completely blur the spatially transmitted information at the image plane. The proton radiographs are recorded on either a time integrating film plate or with a recently developed multi-frame electronic imaging camera system. The latter technique permits obtaining a time dependent series of proton radiographs with time intervals (modulo 358 ns) up to many microseconds and variable time intervals between images. One electronically shuttered, intensified, CCD camera is required per image. These cameras can detect single protons interacting with a scintillating fiber optic array in the image plane but also have a dynamic range which permits recording radiographs with better than 5% statistics for observation of detailed density variations in the object. A number of tests have been carried out to characterize the quality of the proton radiography system for absolute mass determination, resolution, and dynamic range. Initial dynamic experiments characterized the temporal and spatial behavior of shock propagation in high explosives with up to six images per experiment. Based on experience with the prototype system, a number of upgrades are being implemented including the anticipated capability for enhanced mass discrimination through differential multiple coulomb scattering radiographs and more images with improved imaging techniques.

Type inversion in silicon detectors

Abstract Silicon strip detectors and photodiodes were irradiated in an 800 MeV proton beam. The change of the effective doping concentration was monitored by measuring diode C - V curves. Type inversion is observed at a fluence Φ = 1.5 × 10 13 cm −2 . Further evidence for type inversion is obtained from a study of pulses generated by an infrared LED in silicon strip detectors. A two-level parametrization is used to describe donor removal and acceptor state creation during proton irradiation: N eff = N 0 exp(− cφ )− βφ . We measure values of c = (5.5 ± 1.1) × 10 14 cm 2 and β = (0.031 ± 0.006) cm −1 . After type inversion the depletion voltage increases with proton fluence. This may set the limit for the lifetime of silicon detectors at future colliders. However, the occurence of type inversion does not degrade the performance of silicon strip detectors. The effective doping concentration showed a complex post irradiation behaviour. After a short term annealing period the doping concentration increased beyond the value that had been reached immediately after the exposure.

Temperature dependence of the radiation induced change of depletion voltage in silicon PIN detectors

Abstract We present a study of how temperature affects the change in the depletion voltage of silicon PIN detectors damaged by radiation. We study the initial radiation damage and the short-term and long-term annealing of that damage as a function of temperature in the range from −10°C to +50°C, and as a function of 800 MeV proton fluence up to 1.5×10 14 p/cm 2 . We express the pronounced temperature dependences in a simple model in terms of two annealing time constants which depend exponentially on the temperature.

Temperature effects on radiation damage to silicon detectors

Abstract Motivated by the large particle fluences anticipated for the SSC and LHC, we are performing a systematic study of radiation damage to silicon microstrip detectors. Here we report radiation effects on detectors cooled to 0°C (the proposed operating point for a large SSC silicon tracker) including leakage currents and change in depletion voltage. We also present results on the annealing behavior of the radiation damage. Finally, we report results of charge collection measurements of the damaged detectors made with an 241 Am α source.

Review of the development of diamond radiation sensors

Abstract Diamond radiation sensors produced by chemical vapour deposition are studied for the application as tracking detectors in high luminosity experiments. Sensors with a charge collection distance up to 250 μm have been manufactured. Their radiation hardness has been studied with pions, proton and neutrons up to fluences of 1.9×10 15 π cm −2 , 5×10 15 p cm −2 and 1.35×10 15 n cm −2 , respectively. Diamond micro-strip detectors with 50 μm pitch have been exposed in a high-energy test beam in order to investigate their charge collection properties. The measured spatial resolution using a centre-of-gravity position finding algorithm corresponds to the digital resolution for this strip pitch. First results from a strip tracker with a 2×4 cm 2 surface area are reported as well as the performance of a diamond tracker read out by radiation-hard electronics with 25 ns shaping time. Diamond pixel sensors have been prepared to match the geometries of the recently available read-out chip prototypes for ATLAS and CMS. Beam test results are shown from a diamond detector bump-bonded to an ATLAS prototype read-out. They demonstrate a 98% bump-bonding efficiency and a digital resolution in both dimensions.

Radiation hardness studies of CVD diamond detectors

Abstract The inherent properties of diamond make it an ideal material for tracking detectors especially in the high rate, high radiation environments of future colliders such as the LHC. In order to survive in this environment, detectors must be radiation hard. We have constructed charged particle detectors using high quality CVD diamond and performed radiation hardness tests on them. The signal response of diamond detectors to ionizing particles is measured before and after irradiation. Diamond detectors have been exposed to 60 Co photons at Argonne National Laboratory, 300 MeV/ c pions at PSI, 500 MeV protons at TRIUMF and 5 MeV alpha particles at Los Alamos National Laboratory. The results show that CVD diamond is an extremely radiation hard material well suited for particle detector production.

Temperature dependence of radiation damage and its annealing in silicon detectors

Silicon detectors at future collider facilities such as the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) will be exposed to large fluences of both neutral and charged particles, resulting in considerable bulk radiation damage. In order to reduce the increase in leakage current associated with that damage, the proposed operating temperature of the silicon detectors in the SSC Solenoidal Detector Collaboration (SDC) experiment is 0 degrees C. In order to explore any potential complications of operating detectors at 0 degrees C, two sets of detectors were irradiated. One set was kept close to 0 degrees C during the exposure and annealing period, while the other was maintained at room temperature throughout ( approximately 27 degrees C during the exposure, and approximately 23 degrees C during the annealing period). The full depletion voltage and leakage current of the detectors during the irradiation period and over the subsequent annealing period were monitored. It is concluded that detectors will have to be operated at 0 degrees C, and, once damaged, be maintained at 0 degrees C in order to keep their operating voltage at a reasonable value ( >

Recent results from the RD42 Diamond Detector Collaboration

Abstract Diamond, as the hardest material known, has an extremely high binding energy suggesting that it will be a radiation hard material. Given that it is also a semiconductor, one is led to believe that diamond might perform well as a high resolution semiconductor tracking detector in very hostile radiation environments in which more conventional detectors would fail. In this paper we, the RD42 Diamond Detector Collaboration, review the progress that we have made in the development of chemical vapor deposition (CVD) diamond as a detector material, its radiation hardness, and the performance we have achieved with diamond tracking detectors.

Eutectic phase in water-ice: a self-assembled environment conducive to metal-catalyzed non-enzymatic RNA polymerization.

Information and catalytic polymers play an essential role in contemporary cellular life, and their emergence must have been crucial during the complex processes that led to the assembly of the first living systems. Polymerization reactions producing these molecules would have had to occur in aqueous medium, which is known to disfavor such reactions. Thus, it was proposed early on that these polymerizations had to be supported by particular environments, such as mineral surfaces and eutectic phases in water‐ice, which would have led to the concentration of the monomers out of the bulk aqueous medium and their condensation. This review presents the work conducted to understand how the eutectic phases in water‐ice might have promoted RNA polymerization, thereby presumably contributing to the emergence of the ancient information and catalytic system envisioned by the ‘RNA‐World’ hypothesis.

Interactions between Catalysts and Amphiphilic Structures and their Implications for a Protocell Model

One of the essential elements of any cell, including primitive ancestors, is a structural component that protects and confines the metabolism and genes while allowing access to essential nutrients. For the targeted protocell model, bilayers of decanoic acid, a single-chain fatty acid amphiphile, are used as the container. These bilayers interact with a ruthenium-nucleobase complex, the metabolic complex, to convert amphiphile precursors into more amphiphiles. These interactions are dependent on non-covalent bonding. The initial rate of conversion of an oily precursor molecule into fatty acid was examined as a function of these interactions. It is shown that the precursor molecule associates strongly with decanoic acid structures. This results in a high dependence of conversion rates on the interaction of the catalyst with the self-assembled structures. The observed rate logically increases when a tight interaction between catalyst complex and container exists. A strong association between the metabolic complex and the container was achieved by bonding a sufficiently long hydrocarbon tail to the complex. Surprisingly, the rate enhancement was nearly as strong when the ruthenium and nucleobase elements of the complex were each given their own hydrocarbon tail and existed as separate molecules, as when the two elements were covalently bonded to each other and the resulting molecule was given a hydrocarbon tail. These results provide insights into the possibilities and constraints of such a reaction system in relation to building the ultimate protocell.