Massimo Caccia

The RAPSODI project: SiPM development for applied research in radiation protection

RAPSODI is a research project funded by the European Commission within the sixth framework program. The aim of the project is the development of a set of radiation detectors for three well defined applications based on Silicon Photo-Multipliers (SiPM), representing the state-of-the-art in single photon sensitive detectors. This paper focuses on the currently most advanced RAPSODI application, namely in-vivo real-time dosimetry in mammography.

RESULTS FROM NOBLE GAS SCINTILLATION DETECTORS WITH SOLID STATE LIGHT READOUT

A proof of concept is delivered regarding the performance and feasibility of using silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) solid state light readout devices in noble gas scintillation detectors. By immersing SiPMs directly in the scintillating gas, light collection values can be achieved that are highly competitive with those of PMT based detectors. The work further shows that pulse shape discrimination information is accessible even with the SiPM readout. This proof of concept opens the door for the design of highly rugged, low cost, high performance detectors.

TEST OF REAL-TIME IDENTIFICATION OF SPARSE DATA PATTERNS IN SILICON PIXEL DETECTORS

MARCIN JASTRZAB, ANTONIO BULGHERONI, MASSIMO CACCIA, CHIARA CAPPELLINI, GRZEGORZ CHWIERUT, WOJCIECH KUCEWICZ, FABIO RISIGO Electronics Department, AGH-University of Science and Technology, Al. Mickiewicza 30, Krakow 30-059, Poland Dipartimento di Scienze CC.FF.MM., Universita dell’Insubria, via Valleggio 11, 22100 Como, Italy Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita di Roma 3 e INFN Sezione di Roma 3, via della Vasca Navale 84, 00146 Roma, Italy

Fast treatment planning with IVUS imaging in intravascular brachytherapy

The planned target volume in intracoronary brachytherapy is the vessel wall. The success of the treatment is based on the need of delivering doses possibly not lower than 8 and not higher than 30 Gy.nAn automatic procedure in order to acquire intravascular ultrasound images of the whole volume to be irradiated is pointed out; a motor driven pullback device, with velocity of the catheter of 0.5 and 1 mm/s allows to acquire the entire target volume of the vessel with a number of slices normally ranging from 400 to 1600.nA semiautomatic segmentation and classification of the different structures in each slice of the vessel is proposed. The segmentation and the classification of the structures allows the calculation of their volume; this is very useful in particular for plaque volume assessment in the follow-up of the patients. A 3D analyser tool was developed in order to visualize the walls and the lumen of the vessel. The knowledge, for each axial slice, of the position of the source (in the centre of the catheter) and the position of the target (vessel walls) allows the calculation of a set of source-target distances. Given a time of irradiation, and a type of source a dose volume histogram (DVH) describing the distribution of the doses in the whole target can be obtained. The whole procedure takes few minutes and then is compatible with a safe treatment of the patient, giving an important indication about the quality of the radiation treatment selected.

A fast analog-to-digital readout for microstrip detectors

Abstract An analog-to-digital fast readout, using a 8-bit flash ADC, for dc-coupled microstrip detectors, has been developed with automatic pedestal and offset subtraction. The system (readout+detector) was preliminary tested with special pulsers, beta-sources and, at the end, in a minimum ionizing particle beam. The performance and the experimental results obtained are similar to conventional systems employing larger dynamic ADCs.

Low energy protons as a tool for high energy vertex detector calibration

Abstract This paper describes a method developed for the calibration of silicon detectors used to measure high multiplicity of charged particles in high energy experiments; its peculiarity is the use of low energy protons from a cyclotron. This method guarantees an useful improvement in calibration accuracy.