Thesis--Rijksuniversiteit te Utrecht. / Vita. Summary also in Dutch. Includes bibliographical references. Also issued in print.

Thesis--Rijksuniversiteit te Utrecht. / Vita. Summary also in Dutch. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

M.Phil. (Chemistry) / This project concerns the study of , specifically, the incomplete fusion mechanism. The nuclear reaction 7Li + 176Yb at 50 MeV was therefore carried out using the AFRODITE and DIAMANT facility of iThemba LABS. A 7Li nuclide is considered suitable for the breakup fusion (incomplete fusion) reaction because of its well developed cluster structure of an -particle and triton which are weakly bound in this nucleus. One of the breakup fragments may be captured by the target while the other escapes at the beam velocity. Light charged-particles (alpha, tritons, deuterons and protons) were detected with the DIAMANT (CsI) array in co-incidence with gammarays detected by the AFRODITE (HPGe) spectrometer. The light particle detection in co-incidence with gamma detection was an important innovation that allowed exclusivity in the reconstruction of the mechanism by which specific residues were produced. Off-line data processing was used to produce charged-particle-gated gamma-gamma coincidence matrices which were analysed with the RADWARE software package. The level scheme exclusive to a particular channel for the production of the 178Hf was extracted. The relative cross-section for the various reaction channels could also therefore be extracted. In particular, the intensity ratios of gamma transitions as function of spin for proton to triton-gated matrices populating the 178Hf isotope were extracted. Insights could be developed into the incomplete fusion reaction mechanisms initiated by the breakup of the incident 7Li projectile.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

O método nuclear gamaespectrométrico vem ganhando espaço em diversas aplicações como fornecer a informação médica em um paciente ou de uma galáxia distante, detectar radioatividade para fins de segurança e medir a concentração de radioelementos em um mineral ou rocha. Esta dissertação apresenta um projeto e implementação de um espectrômetro gama digital conectado a um conjunto detector contendo cristal cintilador de iodeto de sódio dopado com tálio. O hardware é baseado em um dispositivo lógico programável da família CoolRunner II da Xilinx e um conversor analógico-digital de 80 MHz da Analog Devices. A aquisição de dados é executada em um computador pessoal comum. As linguagens de programação utilizadas foram VHDL e C#. O objetivo desta dissertação é apresentar todas as etapas necessárias para o desenvolvimento de um gamaespectrômetro digital e inclui pesquisa bibliográfica, estudo do equipamento, modelagem dos cristais, simulação do projeto de um gamaespectrômetro, montagem do circuito eletrônico, desenvolvimento do processamento e lógica do circuito, criação do software de aquisição dos dados em tempo real e apresentação dos resultados obtidos. / The gammaspectrometric method has been used for diverse applications as to supply the medical information in a patient or a distant galaxy, to detect radioactivity at airport and to measure the concentration of radioelements in a mineral or rock. This work presents a digital gammaspectrometer project and implementation for acquisition of radiometric data, the spectrometer is connected to a gamma-ray detector NaI(Tl). The two main components in hardware are complex programmable logical device of the family CoolRunner II Xilinx and an 80 MHz analog to digital converter of brand Analog Devices. The acquisition of data is executed in a common personal computer. The programming languages used are VHDL and C#. The objective of this work is to present all the needful stages for the digital gammaspectrometry development that includes theorem, equipment studying, crystal modeling, gammaspectrometry modeling and simulation, electronic circuit assembly, processing and logic circuit development, data acquisition software in real time development and presentation of results.

Kwong Lop Sam. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong. / Bibliography: leaves 60-63.

In recent years, the United States Departments of Homeland Security (DHS) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have been charged with the task of scanning every cargo container crossing domestic borders for illicit radioactive material. This is accomplished by using gamma-ray detection systems capable of discriminating between non-threatening radioisotopes, such as Cs-137, which is often used in nuclear medicine, and fissile material, such as U-238, that can be used to make nuclear weapons or "dirty" bombs. Scintillation detector systems, specifically thallium-doped sodium iodide (NaI(Tl)) single crystals, are by far the most popular choice for this purpose because they are inexpensive relative to other types of detectors, but are still able to identify isotopes with reasonable accuracy. However, increased demand for these systems has served as a catalyst for the research and development of new scintillator materials with potential to surpass NaI(Tl). The focus of a majority of recent scintillator materials research has centered on sintered transparent ceramics, phosphor-doped organic matrices, and the development of novel single crystal compositions. Some of the most promising new materials are glass-ceramic nanocomposites. By precipitating a dense array of nano-scale scintillating crystals rather than growing a single monolith, novel compositions such as LaBr₃(Ce) may be fabricated to useful sizes, and their potential to supersede the energy resolution of NaI(Tl) can be fully explored. Also, because glass-ceramic synthesis begins by casting a homogeneous glass melt, a broad range of geometries beyond the ubiquitous cylinder can be fabricated and characterized. Finally, the glass matrix ensures environmental isolation of the hygroscopic scintillating crystals, and so glass-ceramic scintillators show potential to serve as viable detectors in alpha- and neutron-spectroscopy in addition to gamma-rays. However, for the improvements promised by glass-ceramics to become reality, several material properties must be considered. These include the degree of control over precipitated crystallite size, the solubility limit of the glass matrix with respect to the scintillating compounds, the variation in maximum achievable light yield with composition, and the peak wavelength of emitted photons. Studies will focus on three base glass systems, sodium-aluminosilicate (NAS), sodium-borosilicate (NBS), and alumino-borosilicate (ABS), into which a cerium-doped gadolinium bromide (GdBr₃(Ce)) scintillating phase will be incorporated. Scintillator volumes of 50 cubic centimeters or greater will be fabricated to facilitate comparison with NaI(Tl) crystals currently available.

Graduation date: 1992