Search

This paper reports on a novel range camera employing Single Photon Avalanche Diodes for Time-of-Flight imaging applications. The architecture of an active pixel containing a single photon detector and the relative read-out channel is presented together with experimental results of a 64-pixel linear array. The sensor array, fabricated with a standard high-voltage 0.8-µm CMOS technology, exhibits a range accuracy of better than ± 3cm in the range interval 2m to 5m, without any external averaging operation.

The growing interest toward the development of high‐Z–sensitized organic scintillators is related with the potential possibility to merge the advantages of organic materials with those of inorganics. In fact, organic plastic scintillators offer large‐area applications and fast response at a low cost, yet their performances for high‐energy photons and charged particles are limited by the poor stopping power related with low‐Z materials. The real‐time optical investigation in terms of steady‐state luminescence spectra of polysiloxane/quantum dot (QD) nanocomposite samples under 2 MeV proton irradiation is presented. Results show an increase in the light yield of the polysiloxane samples embedding QDs up to 8% in comparison with the undoped polymer, paving the way for high‐Z sensitization through QDs in polysiloxane‐based active radiation detection systems. The presence of quantum dots within polysiloxane increases the light yield of the polymer under proton irradiation in comparison with the pure polysiloxane. This phenomenon is correlated with the increased specific energy loss experienced by protons due to the presence of inorganic nanocrystals.