A Feasibility Study on Nano-Particle Properties for Signal Generation at NaI(Tl) Scintillation Detectors
Abstract
Purpose: Scintillators have become a prevalent method for detecting ionizing radiation due to their ability to produce optical photons that serve as the basis for the final signal representing the physical properties of the incident beam. This signal is generated using interface hardware such as photon multipliers or photodiodes, in conjunction with the scintillator body. A feasibility study was undertaken to investigate a new interface and detector body based on nano-technology and nano-particle materials, which could potentially eliminate the need for the current photon multipliers.
Materials and Methods: The study involved simulating various incidence beams to determine the wavelengths and intensities of light photons emitted from a NaI(Tl) scintillation detector. The absorption and scatter phenomena of light photons were then modeled using a discrete dipole approximation code, with silver being proposed as the nano-particle material. The silver nano-sphere was implemented as a cubic array with numerous point dipoles distributed on a cubic lattice. An experimental verification was also performed, using Silver Nanoparticle material in powder form, irradiated by 420 nm visible photons.
Results: Based on the numerical results, it is feasible to use nano-material properties as a replacement for current light multipliers. The experimental results confirmed variations in the frequency of the function generator, which was chosen as a typical signal.
Conclusion: However, concerns may arise regarding the implementation of the necessary hardware to retrieve the produced signal as output from the nano-material component, to represent ionizing beam characteristics.
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42- Yun A Hong and Ji Won Ha, "Enhanced refractive index sensitivity of localized surface plasmon resonance inflection points in single hollow gold nanospheres with inner cavity." Scientific Reports, Vol. 12 (No. 1), p. 6983, (2022).
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2- Takayuki Yanagida, "Inorganic scintillating materials and scintillation detectors." Proceedings of the Japan Academy, Series B, Vol. 94 (No. 2), pp. 75-97, (2018).
3- Yu A Pusep, MD Teodoro, V Laurindo Jr, ER Cardozo de Oliveira, GM Gusev, and AK Bakarov, "Diffusion of photoexcited holes in a viscous electron fluid." Physical Review Letters, Vol. 128 (No. 13), p. 136801, (2022).
4- Francesco Maddalena et al., "Inorganic, organic, and perovskite halides with nanotechnology for high–light yield X-and γ-ray scintillators." Crystals, Vol. 9 (No. 2), p. 88, (2019).
5- David Mannes, F Schmid, J Frey, K Schmidt-Ott, and E Lehmann, "Combined neutron and X-ray imaging for non-invasive investigations of cultural heritage objects." Physics Procedia, Vol. 69pp. 653-60, (2015).
6- HongJoo Kim, Arshad Khan, Joseph Daniel, Gul Rooh, and Phan Quoc Vuong, "Thallium-based heavy inorganic scintillators: recent developments and future perspectives." CrystEngComm, Vol. 24 (No. 3), pp. 450-64, (2022).
7- Takayuki Yanagida et al., "Development of Pr: LuAG scintillator array and assembly for positron emission mammography." IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, Vol. 57 (No. 3), pp. 1492-95, (2010).
8- Daisuke Totsuka et al., "Performance test of Si PIN photodiode line scanner for thermal neutron detection." Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 659 (No. 1), pp. 399-402, (2011).
9- Takayuki Yanagida et al., "Temperature dependence of scintillation properties of bright oxide scintillators for well-logging." Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 52 (No. 7R), p. 076401, (2013).
10- Paul Lecoq, "Development of new scintillators for medical applications." Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 809pp. 130-39, (2016).
11- BD Cline, M Bullough, K Richardson, H Thorpe, MC Veale, and MD Wilson, "Characterisation of the performance of p-type Si detectors for hard X-ray spectroscopy." Journal of Instrumentation, Vol. 17 (No. 05), p. P05030, (2022).
12- Takeshi Itoh et al., "A 1-dimensional γ-ray position sensor based on GSO: Ce scintillators coupled to a Si strip detector." Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 579 (No. 1), pp. 239-42, (2007).
13- Alexander Gektin and Mikhail Korzhik, "Inorganic scintillators for detector systems." Berlin: Springer, pp. 20-77, (2017).
14- W-S Choong, G Bizarri, NJ Cherepy, G Hull, WW Moses, and SA Payne, "Measuring the dependence of the decay curve on the electron energy deposit in NaI (Tl)." Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 646 (No. 1), pp. 95-99, (2011).
15- Martín Gascón, Stephanie Lam, Shidong Wang, Stefano Curtarolo, and Robert S Feigelson, "Characterization of light output and scintillation emission in CsI (Tl), NaI (Tl), and LaBr3 (Ce) under isostatic pressure." Radiation measurements, Vol. 56pp. 70-75, (2013).
16- Alan Migdall, Sergey V Polyakov, Jingyun Fan, and Joshua C Bienfang, Single-photon generation and detection: physics and applications. Academic Press, (2013).
17- Stephen E Derenzo, Woon-Seng Choong, and William W Moses, "Fundamental limits of scintillation detector timing precision." Physics in Medicine & Biology, Vol. 59 (No. 13), p. 3261, (2014).
18- Diming Zhang, Qian Zhang, Yanli Lu, Yao Yao, Shuang Li, and Qingjun Liu, "Nanoplasmonic biosensor using localized surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy for biochemical detection." Biosensors and Biodetection: Methods and Protocols Volume 1: Optical-Based Detectors, pp. 89-107, (2017).
19- K Lance Kelly, Eduardo Coronado, Lin Lin Zhao, and George C Schatz, "The optical properties of metal nanoparticles: the influence of size, shape, and dielectric environment." Vol. 107, ed: ACS Publications, (2003), pp. 668-77.
20- Nico Nees, Lukas Pflug, Benjamin Mann, and Michael Stingl, "Multi-material design optimization of optical properties of particulate products by discrete dipole approximation and sequential global programming." Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization, Vol. 66 (No. 1), p. 5, (2023).
21- Claudia Ahdida et al., "New capabilities of the FLUKA multi-purpose code." Frontiers in Physics, Vol. 9p. 788253, (2022).
22- Alfredo Ferrari, Johannes Ranft, Paola R Sala, and A Fassò, FLUKA: A multi-particle transport code (Program version 2005). (No. CERN-2005-10). Cern, (2005).
23- TT Böhlen et al., "The FLUKA code: developments and challenges for high energy and medical applications." Nuclear data sheets, Vol. 120pp. 211-14, (2014).
24- Giuseppe Battistoni et al., "The FLUKA code: an accurate simulation tool for particle therapy." Frontiers in oncology, Vol. 6p. 116, (2016).
25- Moritz Guthoff, Wim de Boer, and Steffen Müller, "Simulation of beam induced lattice defects of diamond detectors using FLUKA." Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 735pp. 223-28, (2014).
26- İskender Akkurt, Faez Waheed, Hakan Akyildirim, and Kadir Gunoglu, "Monte Carlo simulation of a NaI (Tl) detector efficiency." Radiation Physics and Chemistry, Vol. 176p. 109081, (2020).
27- Victor Andersen et al., "The FLUKA code for space applications: recent developments." Advances in Space Research, Vol. 34 (No. 6), pp. 1302-10, (2004).
28- A Mairani et al., "The FLUKA Monte Carlo code coupled with the local effect model for biological calculations in carbon ion therapy." Physics in Medicine & Biology, Vol. 55 (No. 15), p. 4273, (2010).
29- Llorenç Cremonesi et al., "Light extinction and scattering from aggregates composed of submicron particles." Journal of Nanoparticle Research, Vol. 22 (No. 11), p. 344, (2020).
30- Patrick Christian Chaumet, "The discrete dipole approximation: A review." Mathematics, Vol. 10 (No. 17), p. 3049, (2022).
31- Maxim A Yurkin and Alfons G Hoekstra, "The discrete dipole approximation: an overview and recent developments." Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer, Vol. 106 (No. 1-3), pp. 558-89, (2007).
32- B Rezaei, M Shahshahanipour, and Ali A Ensafi, "In situ production of silver nanoparticles for high sensitive detection of ascorbic acid via inner filter effect." Materials Science and Engineering: C, Vol. 71pp. 663-68, (2017).
33- Miguel A Gracia-Pinilla et al., "On the structure and properties of silver nanoparticles." The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, Vol. 112 (No. 35), pp. 13492-98, (2008).
34- Mariano Pontico et al., "18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) functionalized gold nanoparticles (GNPs) for plasmonic photothermal ablation of cancer: a review." Pharmaceutics, Vol. 15 (No. 2), p. 319, (2023).
35- Georgios A Sotiriou, Ann M Hirt, Pierre-Yves Lozach, Alexandra Teleki, Frank Krumeich, and Sotiris E Pratsinis, "Hybrid, silica-coated, Janus-like plasmonic-magnetic nanoparticles." Chemistry of Materials, Vol. 23 (No. 7), pp. 1985-92, (2011).
36- Koohee Han, "Electric and magnetic field-driven dynamic structuring for smart functional devices." Micromachines, Vol. 14 (No. 3), p. 661, (2023).
37- Adam D McFarland and Richard P Van Duyne, "Single silver nanoparticles as real-time optical sensors with zeptomole sensitivity." Nano letters, Vol. 3 (No. 8), pp. 1057-62, (2003).
38- Amanda J Haes, Christy L Haynes, Adam D McFarland, George C Schatz, Richard P Van Duyne, and Shengli Zou, "Plasmonic materials for surface-enhanced sensing and spectroscopy." MRS bulletin, Vol. 30 (No. 5), pp. 368-75, (2005).
39- Xuyen D Hoa, AG Kirk, and M Tabrizian, "Towards integrated and sensitive surface plasmon resonance biosensors: A review of recent progress." Biosensors and bioelectronics, Vol. 23 (No. 2), pp. 151-60, (2007).
40- Christopher M Sorensen, Light Scattering and Absorption by Particles: The Q-space approach. IOP Publishing, (2022).
41- Xiaolu Huang, Daniel Ratchford, Pehr E Pehrsson, and Junghoon Yeom, "Fabrication of metallic nanodisc hexagonal arrays using nanosphere lithography and two-step lift-off." Nanotechnology, Vol. 27 (No. 39), p. 395302, (2016).
42- Yun A Hong and Ji Won Ha, "Enhanced refractive index sensitivity of localized surface plasmon resonance inflection points in single hollow gold nanospheres with inner cavity." Scientific Reports, Vol. 12 (No. 1), p. 6983, (2022).
43- Joseph M McLellan, Andrew Siekkinen, Jingyi Chen, and Younan Xia, "Comparison of the surface-enhanced Raman scattering on sharp and truncated silver nanocubes." Chemical Physics Letters, Vol. 427 (No. 1-3), pp. 122-26, (2006).
44- George H Chan, Jing Zhao, Erin M Hicks, George C Schatz, and Richard P Van Duyne, "Plasmonic properties of copper nanoparticles fabricated by nanosphere lithography." Nano letters, Vol. 7 (No. 7), pp. 1947-52, (2007).
45- Juha Harra et al., "Size-controlled aerosol synthesis of silver nanoparticles for plasmonic materials." Journal of Nanoparticle Research, Vol. 14pp. 1-10, (2012).
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| Issue | Vol 12 No 1 (2025) | |
| Section | Original Article(s) | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.18502/fbt.v12i1.17734 | |
| Keywords | ||
| NaI(Tl) Scintillation Detector Silver Nano-Particle Light Photons Intensity Monte Carlo Simulation Discrete Dipole Approximation Frequency Signal | ||
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How to Cite
1.
Hooshmand Koochi S, Esmaili Torshabi A. A Feasibility Study on Nano-Particle Properties for Signal Generation at NaI(Tl) Scintillation Detectors. Frontiers Biomed Technol. 2025;12(1):66-74.
