Claims
- 1. A scintillation optical fiber for use in a radiation detector, comprising at least one elongated scintillation optical fiber and a coating of a nuclear reactive material on exposed surface regions of the optical fiber with said reactive material characterized by the production of at least one particle with active energy in the coating upon contact with an exposed surface region of the coating by a nuclear particle or ray with one of said at least one particle with active energy being received by the optical fiber for producing a pulse of scintillation light therein for transmission through the fiber.
- 2. A scintillation optical fiber as claimed in claim 1, wherein said reactive material providing said coating comprises .sup.6 Li, .sup.10 B, .sup.235 U, or .sup.238 U.
- 3. A scintillation optical fiber as claimed in claim 2, wherein said coating is of a thickness generally corresponding to the shortest range of travel of said at least one particle.
- 4. A scintillation optical fiber as claimed in claim 3, wherein the optical fiber is formed of glass or a synthetic polymer.
- 5. A scintillation optical fiber as claimed in claim 1, wherein the coating comprises .sup.6 Li with the nuclear particle contacting the coating being a neutron for producing a .sup.6 Li(n )T reaction with the coating, wherein said at least one particle is provided by an .alpha. particle and a triton, and wherein said thickness of the coating is up to a thickness corresponding to the range of the .alpha. particle.
- 6. A scintillation optical fiber as claimed in claim 5, wherein the coating consists essentially of .sup.6 LiF.
- 7. A scintillation optical fiber as claimed in claim 5, wherein a the optical fiber with said coating thereon is encased in a light impervious tube.
- 8. A scintillation optical fiber as claimed in claim 7, wherein said at least one optical fiber is provided by a plurality of optical fibers each with said coating thereon and disposed in said tube in a side-by-side relationship in the form of a bundle.
- 9. A scintillation optical fiber as claimed in claim 1, wherein the optical fiber with said coating thereon is adapted to be contacted by a plurality of nuclear particles or rays for providing a plurality of active energy particle producing reactions, wherein at least one end of the optical fiber is coupled to pulse amplifying means for amplifying the pulse of scintillation light transmitted through the fiber, and wherein pulse counting means are adapted to receive signals indicative of each of said light pulses for providing an event-by-event measurement of said reactions.
- 10. A scintillation optical fiber as claimed in claim 9, wherein the coating comprises .sup.6 Li with the nuclear particles contacting of the coating including neutrons for producing a .sup.6 Li(n )T reactions with the coating, wherein said at least one particle produced by each reaction is provided by an .alpha. particle and a triton, and wherein the .alpha. particle or the triton from each reaction provides a scintillation pulse of light in the coated fiber.
- 11. A scintillation optical fiber as claimed in claim 10, wherein the thickness of the coating is less than the range of the .alpha. particle.
- 12. A scintillation optical fiber as claimed in claim 10, wherein said at least one optical fiber is provided by a plurality of optical fibers each with said coating thereon, and wherein the plurality of coated optical fibers are disposed in a side-by-side relationship in the form of a bundle.
- 13. A scintillation optical fiber as claimed in claim 12, wherein the bundle of the coated optical fibers is encased in a light impervious tube.
- 14. A scintillation optical fiber as claimed in claim 10, wherein pulse discriminating means are coupled between the pulse amplifying means and the pulse counting means for discriminating against light pulses of shapes different from the pulse shapes provided by either the .alpha. particle or the triton.
- 15. A scintillation optical fiber as claimed in claim 9, wherein the pulse amplifying means are coupled to one end of the optical fiber, and wherein light reflecting means are disposed at the end of the optical fiber opposite to the pulse amplifying means for providing the latter with a reflection of each light pulse produced in the optical fiber, wherein circuit means are adapted to sequentially receive each light pulse and the reflection thereof for measuring the lapse in time between the reception of each light pulse and the reflection thereof from the mirror means to provide a signal indicative of position of each light-pulse producing reaction on the coated optical fiber.
- 16. A scintillation optical fiber as claimed in claim 9, wherein pulse amplifying means and pulse counting means are coupled to the coated optical fiber at each end thereof, whereby the difference in time each light pulse traveling in opposite directions in the optical fiber is received and counted in each of said pulse counting means provides measurement of the position of each reaction on the coated optical fiber.
Government Interests
This invention was made with the support of the United States Government under contract No. DE-AC05-84OR21400 awarded by the U. S. Department of Energy. The United States Government has certain rights in this invention.
US Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Name |
Date |
Kind |
4454424 |
Strauss et al. |
Jun 1984 |
|
Non-Patent Literature Citations (1)
Entry |
"Glass Scintillators", Information Bulletin SC 105, Bicron Corporation, Newbury, Ohio 44065. |