Next generation detectors

D. Casper, UNO A Next Generation Detector for Nucleon Decay and Neutrino Physics... 

Advances in XDI over the years have been enabled by technological innovations, particularly in the fields of multi-foci, high-radiance X-ray sources and pixellated energyresolving semiconductor detectors. The technological realization of a proposed next-generation XDI device will be discussed in Section 5. 

There are several types of photon counting detector front-ends that can now handle the desired count rates, ranging from the new types of gas detectors (Microstrip gas chambers and MicroGaps) to silicon arrays. Crucial to the success of these detectors is the design and fabrication of a readout and memory system which can handle both the count rate and framing rate of the next generation of time resolved diffraction experiments. 

Ultra-pure materials are needed for the constmction of the next generation of ultra-low level radiation detectors. These detectors are used for environmental research as well as rare nuclear decay experiments, e.g. probing the effective mass and character of the neutrino. Unfortunately, radioactive isotopes are found in most construction materials, either primordial isotopes, activation/spallation products from cosmic-ray exposure, or surface deposition of dust or radon progeny. 

AMANDA has yet to observe an extraterrestrial neutrino source, but she has demonstrated the cost-effectiveness and robustness of the technique. The detector is very versatile it addresses many different neutrino physics subjects and sets the most stringent upper limits on Galactic and extragalactic neutrino fluxes. The improved search for diffuse fluxes, which has ruled out several predictions, along with the extended four-year search for point sources has started to constrain the enormous parameter space that exist in many models of neutrino production. The reported experimental limits on the diffuse neutrino flux are less than an order of magnitude above the Waxman-Bahcall bound ( Waxman and Bahcall, 1999). As more of the data on tape is analyzed, AMANDA sensitivities will continue to improve. This is a very exciting time in neutrino astronomy and we look forward to neutrino astrophysics with next generation of neutrino telescopes. 

Currently under development are the next generation x-ray detectors such as the pixel-array, amorphous silicon, and solid state detectors. These detectors offer a larger active area, lower background, faster readout, and higher dynamic range than the current CCD or IP systems. 

Despite the continued improvements of GC in the past four decades, there are still some areas of GC that require attention. Theses include automated sample preparation, improved sample introduction devices, automated and optimised flow control for both column and detector gases, and improved stability of selective detectors. The combination of aU these improvements will result in the next generation of gas chromatography, heralding the 21 century. 

The future experimental investigations will target in particular the accurate spectroscopy of the excited states in heavy He-like systems. In contrast to the ground-state properties, this topic has almost not been addressed up to now experimentally. In addition, very recently, there has been a considerable progress in developments for the next generation Lamb shift experiments on H-like heavy ions. Here, the first beam-time has already been conducted utilising the high-resolution X-ray spectrometers (in combination with novel position-sensitive solid-state detectors) as well as the X-ray microcalorimeter. 

Current R D in chemical agent detector technology is focused on increasing the speed and sensitivity of the instruments, while at the same time bringing down their size and cost. The vast majority of next-generation chemical detectors are based on the application of technology previously discussed. In some cases, the improvement will often be utilization of multiple technologies to simultaneously increase the sensitivity and specificity of the instrument. New CWA detector platforms with near-term successful development prospects include ... 

Chemical standards are used to test response in military field units, and the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) has recently become active in establishing procedures to calibrate explosive detectors. Research teams have proposed substances that conld provide a reference to calculate values. Will these or any others be incorporated into IMS instruments or methods WiU the role of ion residence time in drift tnbes or analyzers be widely recognized as a factor in the appearance of mobility spectra How will we know that we have the same ion species For the next-generation instruments as suggested, will the identity of the ion species be controlled and known sufficiently so mobility may be considered an intrinsic parameter of an gas ion Until then, the method is disproportionately limited by control of experimental variables. 

The proposed next generation of detectors includes a design for a detector of the appropriate volume (1 km ) to detect antineutrinos from a 1 kt detonation about 3000 km distant. In the following sections, we consider possible applications of antineutrino detectors for both local and remote monitoring of nuclear tests. 

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