Sub-micrometer real-time imaging of trajectory of alpha particles using GAGG plate and CMOS camera

Abstract

High-resolution and real-time imaging of the trajectories of alpha particles is desired in nuclear medicine and nuclear engineering. Although an imaging method using a scintillator plate combined with a magnifying unit and a cooled electron multiplying charge-coupled device (EM-CCD) camera is a possible method of obtaining high-resolution trajectory images, the spatial resolution of the system is limited to ∼2 μm. To overcome the spatial resolution limitations of this method on trajectory imaging, we used a cooled complementally metal oxide (CMOS) camera in which the sensor had a much larger number of pixels, which were also smaller. Using the CMOS camera based imaging system, we could measure the trajectories of alpha particles in real time with the spatial resolution of 0.34 μm FWHM. With smoothing of the images to reduce image noise, spatial resolution was still kept to less than 0.75 μm. We conclude that this CMOS camera-based alpha-particle trajectory-imaging system is promising for alpha-particle or other particles imaging where ultrahigh spatial resolution is required.

Range and light output measurements of trajectory images in a GAGG plate with different alpha particle energies

“…To enhance the detection limit for trajectory imaging of alpha particles, a camera with higher sensitivity and higher spatial resolution would be beneficial. The utilization of a high-sensitivity CMOS camera [16] could potentially improve the spatial resolution and also improve detection limit in alpha particle trajectory imaging.…”