abstract: The work presented in this manuscript has the overarching theme of radiation. The two forms of radiation of interest are neutrons, i.e. nuclear, and electric fields. The ability to detect such forms of radiation have significant security implications that could also be extended to very practical industrial applications. The goal is therefore to detect, and even image, such radiation sources. The method to do so revolved around the concept of building large-area sensor arrays. By covering a large area, we can increase the probability of detection and gather more data to build a more complete and clearer view of the environment. Large-area circuitry can be achieved cost-effectively by leveraging the thin-film transistor process of the display industry. With production of displays increasing with the explosion of mobile devices and continued growth in sales of flat panel monitors and television, the cost to build a unit continues to decrease. Using a thin-film process also allows for flexible electronics, which could be taken advantage of in-house at the Flexible Electronics and Display Center. Flexible electronics implies new form factors and applications that would not otherwise be possible with their single crystal counterparts. To be able to effectively use thin-film technology, novel ways of overcoming the drawbacks of the thin-film process, namely the lower performance scale. The two deliverable devices that underwent development are a preamplifier used in an active pixel sensor for neutron detection and a passive electric field imaging array. This thesis will cover the theory and process behind realizing these devices. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Electrical Engineering 2015

abstract: Electric field imaging allows for a low cost, compact, non-invasive, non-ionizing alternative to other methods of imaging. It has many promising industrial applications including security, safely imaging power lines at construction sites, finding sources of electromagnetic interference, geo-prospecting, and medical imaging. The work presented in this dissertation concerns low frequency electric field imaging: the physics, hardware, and various methods of achieving it. Electric fields have historically been notoriously difficult to work with due to how intrinsically noisy the data is in electric field sensors. As a first contribution, an in-depth study demonstrates just how prevalent electric field noise is. In field tests, various cables were placed underneath power lines. Despite being shielded, the 60 Hz power line signal readily penetrated several types of cables. The challenges of high noise levels were largely addressed by connecting the output of an electric field sensor to a lock-in amplifier. Using the more accurate means of collecting electric field data, D-dot sensors were arrayed in a compact grid to resolve electric field images as a second contribution. This imager has successfully captured electric field images of live concealed wires and electromagnetic interference. An active method was developed as a third contribution. In this method, distortions created by objects when placed in a known electric field are read. This expands the domain of what can be imaged because the object does not need to be a time-varying electric field source. Images of dielectrics (e.g. bodies of water) and DC wires were captured using this new method. The final contribution uses a collection of one-dimensional electric field images, i.e. projections, to reconstruct a two-dimensional image. This was achieved using algorithms based in computed tomography such as filtered backprojection. An algebraic approach was also used to enforce sparsity regularization with the L1 norm, further improving the quality of some images. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Electrical Engineering 2017