A study of CR-39 plastic charged-particle detector replacement by consumer imaging sensors

K O Plaud-Ramos; M S Freeman; W Wei; E Guardincerri; J D Bacon; J Cowan; J M Durham; D Huang; J Gao; M A Hoffbauer; D J Morley; C L Morris; D C Poulson; Zhehui Wang

doi:10.1063/1.4960168

A study of CR-39 plastic charged-particle detector replacement by consumer imaging sensors

Rev Sci Instrum. 2016 Nov;87(11):11E706. doi: 10.1063/1.4960168.

Authors

K O Plaud-Ramos¹, M S Freeman¹, W Wei¹, E Guardincerri¹, J D Bacon¹, J Cowan¹, J M Durham¹, D Huang¹, J Gao¹, M A Hoffbauer¹, D J Morley¹, C L Morris¹, D C Poulson¹, Zhehui Wang¹

Affiliation

¹ Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA.

PMID: 27910424
DOI: 10.1063/1.4960168

Abstract

Consumer imaging sensors (CIS) are examined for real-time charged-particle detection and CR-39 plastic detector replacement. Removing cover glass from CIS is hard if not impossible, in particular for the latest inexpensive webcam models. We show that $10-class CIS are sensitive to MeV and higher energy protons and α-particles by using a ⁹⁰Sr β-source with its cover glass in place. Indirect, real-time, high-resolution detection is also feasible when combining CIS with a ZnS:Ag phosphor screen and optics. Noise reduction in CIS is nevertheless important for the indirect approach.