No abstract

This paper describes the AC-coupled, single-sided, p-in-n silicon microstrip sensors used in the SemiConductor Tracker (SCT) of the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The sensor requirements, specifications and designs are discussed, together with the qualification and quality assurance procedures adopted for their production. The measured sensor performance is presented, both initially and after irradiation to the fluence anticipated after 10 years of LHC operation. The sensors are now successfully assembled within the detecting modules of the SCT, and the SCT tracker is completed and integrated within the ATLAS Inner Detector. Hamamatsu Photonics Ltd supplied 92.2% of the 15,392 installed sensors, with the remainder supplied by CiS.

Compton imaging devices have been proposed and studied for a wide range of applications. We have developed a Compton camera prototype which can be operated with two or three detector layers based on monolithic lanthanum bromide ([Formula: see text]) crystals coupled to silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs), to be used for proton range verification in hadron therapy. In this work, we present the results obtained with our prototype in laboratory tests with radioactive sources and in simulation studies. Images of a [Formula: see text]Na and an [Formula: see text]Y radioactive sources have been successfully reconstructed. The full width half maximum of the reconstructed images is below 4 mm for a [Formula: see text]Na source at a distance of 5 cm.

Compton Cameras emerged as an alternative for real-time dose monitoring techniques for Particle Therapy (PT), based on the detection of prompt-gammas. As a consequence of the Compton scattering process, the gamma origin point can be restricted onto the surface of a cone (Compton cone). Through image reconstruction techniques, the distribution of the gamma emitters can be estimated, using cone-surfaces backprojections of the Compton cones through the image space, along with more sophisticated statistical methods to improve the image quality. To calculate the Compton cone required for image reconstruction, either two interactions, the last being photoelectric absorption, or three scatter interactions are needed. Because of the high energy of the photons in PT the first option might not be adequate, as the photon is not absorbed in general. However, the second option is less efficient. That is the reason to resort to spectral reconstructions, where the incoming γ energy is considered as a variable in the reconstruction inverse problem. Jointly with prompt gamma, secondary neutrons and scattered photons, not strongly correlated with the dose map, can also reach the imaging detector and produce false events. These events deteriorate the image quality. Also, high intensity beams can produce particle accumulation in the camera, which lead to an increase of random coincidences, meaning events which gather measurements from different incoming particles. The noise scenario is expected to be different if double or triple events are used, and consequently, the reconstructed images can be affected differently by spurious data. The aim of the present work is to study the effect of false events in the reconstructed image, evaluating their impact in the determination of the beam particle ranges. A simulation study that includes misidentified events (neutrons and random coincidences) in the final image of a Compton Telescope for PT monitoring is presented. The complete chain of detection, from the beam particle entering a phantom to the event classification, is simulated using FLUKA. The range determination is later estimated from the reconstructed image obtained from a two and three-event algorithm based on Maximum Likelihood Expectation Maximization. The neutron background and random coincidences due to a therapeutic-like time structure are analyzed for mono-energetic proton beams. The time structure of the beam is included in the simulations, which will affect the rate of particles entering the detector.