Η Τομογραφία Εκπομπής Ποζιτρονίων, η οποία συχνά αναφέρεται με βάση το ακρωνύμιό της, PET (Positron Emission Tomography), αποτελεί μία πρωτοποριακή τεχνική απεικόνισης η οποία παρέχει εγκάρσιες τομές της λειτουργίας των διαφόρων δομών του ανθρωπίνου σώματος. Η Τομογραφία PET επιτρέπει την μεταβολική απεικόνιση αυτών των δομών (σε αντίθεση με τις ακτίνες-Χ και την Υπολογιστική Τομογραφία (CT – Computer Tomography) οι οποίες παρέχουν ανατομική απεικόνιση), σε μοριακό επίπεδο, και αυτός είναι ο λόγος που συχνά η Τομογραφία PET αναφέρεται ως μοριακή απεικόνιση. Ειδικότερα, οι τομογράφοι PET για μικρά ζώα (Small Animal PET) οι οποίοι απαιτούν ιδιαίτερα υψηλή διακριτική ικανότητα, διαδραματίζουν σημαντικό ρόλο στην βιολογία και στις in-vivo μελέτες της φαρμακοκινητικής των ιχνηθετών και του μεταβολισμού. Σύμφωνα με τη βιβλιογραφία έχουν αναφερθεί διάφοροι τύποι τομογράφων PET, στους οποίους χρησιμοποιήθηκαν διάφοροι τύποι ανιχνευτικών διατάξεων, με διαφορετικό σχεδιασμό σε κάθε περίπτωση. Η τεχνολογία αυτών των τομογράφων βασίζεται στη χρήση μικρών ανόργανων κρυστάλλων, κυρίς αποτελούμενων από BGO, GSO και LSO, οι οποίοι σχηματίζουν ένα block στο οποίο έχει προσαρτηθεί ένας φωτοπολλαπλασιαστής είτε με ευαισθησία θέσης (PS – PMT: Position Sensitive PhotoMultiplier Tube), είτε με πολλαπλές ανόδους (multianode PMT). To BGO (Bismuth Germanate Oxide) είναι το υλικό που χρησιμοποιείται σε αρκετούς εμπορικούς Τομογράφους, έχοντας πλέον αντικαταστήσει το ιωδιούχο νάτριο (ΝαΙ). Ένα πρότυπο σύστημα small animal PET χαμηλού κόστους βρίσκεται υπό ανάπτυξη, προκειμένου να μελετήσουμε τα επιμέρους σχεδιαστικά χαρακτηριστικά του και να μετρήσουμε την απόδοσή του. Ο βασικός block ανιχνευτής αποτελείται από μία 16×16 διάταξη επιμέρους BGO κρυστάλλων διαστάσεων 3.75×3.75×20 mm3, ο οποίος έχει τοποθετηθεί με ειδική διεργασία στην επιφάνεια ενός Hamamatsu R-2486 PSPMT. Με τη χρήση κατάλληλων ηλεκτρονικών διατάξεων και την ανάπτυξη ειδικού λογισμικού πραγματοποιήθηκαν μετρήσεις της απόδοσης των επιμέρους ανιχνευτών καθώς επίσης και μετρήσεις σχετικές με τους φωτοπολλαπλασιαστές. / Positron Emission Tomography, often referred to by its acronym, PET, is an emerging radiologic modality that yields transverse tomographic images of functioning organs in the human body. PET enables the metabolic imaging of organs (as opposed to the anatomic imaging provided by techniques such as the X-ray imaging or the Computerized Tomography (CT)), in molecular level, and this is the reason why it is characterized as molecular imaging. Especially, small animal PET tomographs which require high spatial resolution can play an important role in biology and studies of in vivo tracer pharmacokinetics and metabolism. Various implementations have been reported in the literature using a variety of detector and design technologies. The basic technology for these scanners is based on small inorganic crystals, mainly from BGO, GSO, and LSO, forming detector blocks read out by position sensitive and multianode PMTs. BGO is the material used in a lot of commercial scanners, having replaced NaI, mainly because BGO has higher stopping power and it is not hygroscopic. We have been developing a low-cost small animal PET prototype, in order to study specific design characteristics and measure its performance. The basic block detector design consists of a 16×16 array of 3.75×3.75×20 mm3 individual BGO crystals coupled to a Hamamatsu R-2486 PSPMT. Measurements of the individual detector performance as well as measurements of the PSPMTs have been performed.

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Poor water quality is a global health concern affecting one billion people around the world. It is important to monitor water sources in order to maintain the quality of our drinking water and to avoid disease outbreaks. Targeting Escherichia coli as a faecal indicator is a widely used procedure, but the current methods are time consuming and not adequate to prevent spreading of faecal influence.   This Master thesis demonstrates the development of a near infrared fluorescence flow cytometer sensor system targeting Escherichia coli, using fluorescently labeled chicken IgY antibodies. The near infrared light was chosen to avoid fluorescence from blue-green algae that are present in the water source.   The hardware was developed with a 785  nm laser line to detect Alexa Fluor 790 labeled antibodies, using a photomultiplier tube or two different CMOS cameras. The antibodies were labeled using a commercial labeling kit, and evaluated using antibody binding assays and the developed hardware.   The IgY antibodies were successfully labeled with Alexa Fluor 790 and the function was maintained after the labeling process. The result demonstrates the principles of the sensor system and how it solved to the problem with fluorescence from blue-green algae. An aperture was used to overcome the suboptimal laser and filter setup, and to increase the sensitivity of the system. However, only a small fraction of the cells could be detected, due to challenges with the focal depth and loss of sensitivity in the photomultiplier tube at near infrared wavelengths. Further development is required to create a working product.

L'expérience JUNO est une expérience basée sur un détecteur à scintillateur liquide ayant pour objectif principal de déterminer la hiérarchie de masse des neutrinos. JUNO atteindra une sensibilité de trois écarts standards en 6 ans, avec une résolution en énergie sans précédent, meilleure que 3% à 1MeV. Le détecteur central de JUNO est un détecteur à scintillateur liquide de 20 kilotonnes, construit avec une couverture de photocathode élevée (78%) et une bonne transparence. La couverture de photocathode est assurée par 18000 photomultiplicateurs de 20 pouces et 25000 de 3 pouces, ce qui permet d'atteindre un rendement d'environ 1200 photoélectrons par MeV. Malgré les 700m d'épaisseur de roche protégeant le détecteur des rayonnements cosmiques, le bruit de fond induit par les muons atmosphériques est toujours considéré comme non négligeable par rapport au signal attendu pour la détermination de la hiérarchie de masse. Pour faire face à ce bruit de fond, un détecteur appelé "Top Tracker" permet d'améliorer la détection de ces muons. Cette thèse concerne les travaux d'optimisation pour cette expérience actuellement en cours de construction, et dont les prises de données commenceront en 2021.Pour les photomultiplicateurs de 20 pouces, deux nouvelles géométries de concentrateurs de lumière sont étudiées afin de vérifier leurs performances pour augmenter le rendement photoélectronique et donc la résolution en énergie de JUNO. La distribution spatiale et le schéma de câblage des photomultiplicateurs de 3 pouces font aussi l'objet d'études pour assurer une performance optimale du système.Cette thèse aborde ensuite la conception du système de déclenchement du Top Tracker. En effet, ce détecteur doit posséder un tel système pour rejeter les signaux produits par la radioactivité naturelle dans la caverne. Les résultats montrent qu'un système à 2 niveaux doté d'algorithmes optimisés est efficace pour la suppression de ces signaux et qu'il est ainsi possible d'obtenir une efficacité de détection des muons de 93%. Une discussion sur la contribution du Top Tracker à la suppression et à la mesure du bruit de fond induit par les muons atmosphériques est également incluse. / The JUNO experiment is a multi-purpose liquid scintillator neutrino experiment with the main objective of determining the neutrino mass hierarchy (nuMH) with a significance better than 3sigma. To achieve this goal, it is crucial that JUNO has an unprecedented energy resolution of 3% at 1 MeV. Therefore, the JUNO Central Detector (CD) will be built with 20000 ton high transparency liquid scintillator and high photomultiplier tube (PMT) photocathode coverage of 78%, which is provided by 18000 20"-PMTs (LPMTs) and 25000 3"-PMTs (SPMTs). At the same time, the background induced by atmospheric muons should be vetoed by using reconstructed muon tracks. The Top Tracker (TT) is a muon tracker installed on top of the CD for precise muon tracking.This thesis details firstly the optimisation of the LPMT and the SPMT systems, which are directly related to the antineutrino calorimetry. New designs of light concentrator tailored for the JUNO LPMT are studied in order to verify their performance on increasing the JUNO photoelectron yield. By comparing different configurations, the relation between the SPMT system performance and the non-uniform distribution of the SPMT emplacements is studied, and the scheme used for cabling between SPMTs and their Under Water Boxes (UWBs) is studied to ensure a minimal performance degradation in case of UWB failure.Afterwards, this thesis reports on the design and optimisation of the TT trigger algorithms. Due to the background induced by natural radioactivity in the JUNO cavern, the TT cannot work correctly without a trigger system. The results show that a 2-level trigger with the optimised trigger algorithm is effective for the background suppression and thus a muon detection efficiency of 93% can be achieved.A discussion about the TT contribution to the suppression and the measurement of the atmospheric muon-induced background, is also included.

Cette étude porte sur la mesure de la température à l’échelle microscopique par voie optique dans la gamme UV-visible par comptage de photons à l’aide d’un PMT refroidi. À partir des avantages et des inconvénients de chaque technique existante, la première partie permet de comprendre les orientations de nos travaux. Le Second Chapitre montre et insiste sur l’intérêt de travailler aux courtes longueurs d’onde (limite de diffraction, précision sur la mesure...), d’utiliser la méthode multi-spectrale pour s’affranchir de paramètres inconnus (e.g. l’émissivité) en choisissant judicieusement les longueurs d’onde de travail, ainsi que les lois statistiques classiques pour mesurer le flux photonique sachant son émission aléatoire. Le Chapitre Trois présente le banc de mesure (microscope optique, système de mesure du flux photonique...) et une attention toute particulière est portée sur la conception des éléments chauffants servant à l’étalonnage. Le Quatrième Chapitre présente les résultats en températures obtenues à l’aide des lois statistiques. Ils valident le bon fonctionnement du dispositif, la mise au point de la zone microscopique, et l’intérêt de bien modéliser les filtres monochromatiques. Enfin, des améliorations sur la précision de la mesure (réseau de diffraction, analyseur multi-canal) et pour mesurer des températures plus faibles (LIF, méthode corrélation temporelle) sont présentées dans le Cinquième Chapitre / The aim of this study is to measure microscale temperature by optical way in the UV-visible range by photons counting using a cooled PMT. From the existing techniques advantages and disadvantages, this first part allows to understand the choices of this study. The second part shows and underlines the interest in working in short wavelengths (diffraction limit, measurement accuracy), in using the multi-spectral method to get rid of unknown parameters (e.g. emissivity) by choosing judicious working wavelengths, as well as the statistic laws to measure the photonic flux knowing its random emission. The third chapter presents the optical bench (optical microscope, photonic flux measurement facility…). A particularly attention is given to the design of the heated elements, which allow to calibrate the facility. The fourth part exposes the temperature results obtained through statistic laws. They validate the well-running of the facility, the microscopic area focusing, and the interest to model correctly the filters. Finally, measurement accuracy improvements (diffraction grating, multi-channel analyzer) and lower temperature measurement techniques (LIF, time-correlated method) are presented in the fifth part

<div><p><br></p></div><p>This study makes use of a Time-Resolved Raman Spectroscopy (TRRS) system developed in the Purdue Civil Engineering spectroscopy laboratory to advance technology critical to enable field deployment of Raman spectroscopic systems, with a primary focus on developing solutions to overcome two specific barriers to Raman analysis in the natural environment: (1) obtaining Raman spectra of chemical compounds at field-relevant concentrations, and (2) realizing economical spatial monitoring. To inform both streams of activity, this work first explores the role of component choice and apparatus design on Raman system output. A component-level Raman system transfer function is developed in terms of intensity, wavelength, and time which yields detailed insight into system performance that greatly exceeds traditional single “system factor” treatments of apparatus effects. The modelling frame provided by the transfer function is universally applicable in that it is inclusive of the majority of component choices that may be encountered in any open-path or closed-path Raman system, and is likely to be valuable in efforts to assess the performance benefits and limitations of system designs, modify or tailor apparatus layouts, facilitate experiment design, and compare results obtained on different systems. </p><p><br></p><p>The system characterization offered by the transfer function is then employed to develop a multi-photon counting algorithm realized through digital signal processing (DSP) which captures photon arrivals traditionally ignored in conventional counting methods. This approach increases acquired Raman intensity for any given analyte by using detector output voltage or a voltage-time product as an energy proxy – an approach that is likey broadly applicable to any spectroscopic techniques employing detectors that make use of the photoelectric effect. In experiments carried out on analytes (nitrate, isopropanol, and rhodamine 6G) in aqueous solutions, enhanced observations enabled by the multi-photon counting algorithm are shown to increase observed Raman intensities of low Raman-yield solutions 2.0-3.1-fold compared to single-threshold analysis, and also extend the upper observation limit of strong Raman-yield solutions that would traditionally saturate detectors using a binary photon counting scheme. Notably, the improved performance offered by the multi-photon counting algorithm is realized through comparison of multi-photon and conventional counting algorithms applied to the same data in a post-processing exercise, thus eliminating any effects of test-to-test variation on results, and highlighting the ability to employ the developed counting approach without modification of traditional systems.</p><p><br></p><p>Additional insights from the system transfer function are also used to inform exploration of a novel approach to enable spatial environmental monitoring via Raman spectroscopy by combining fiber optics, optical switch technology, and the Raman system prototype. Tests designed to evaluate the system configured as a multiplexed optically switched fiber optic network demonstrate the potential to deliver excitation and collect Raman scattering from different desired monitoring locations with a sole excitation source and a single detector over substantial distances. Using nitrate as an example compound of interest, it is demonstrated that the system has a detection limit of 5 ppm within approximately 1.5 meters, which increases to 15 ppm at 100 m, and 38 ppm at 200 m. Modelling informed using the developed system transfer function highlights that improving the prototype by eliminating fiber connectors and making use of commercially available visible-light optimized fiber can substantially extend the range of the system, offering a 15-ppm nitrate detection limit at 2100 m. As increases in laser power, testing time, and collection optic efficiency are all also straightforward and viable, the prototype demonstrates realistic potential to achieve field relevant detection sensitivity over great distance.</p><p><br></p><p>As a final demonstration of system potential, a set of experiments on aqueous nitrate solutions is performed to understand the influence of turbidity, fluorescence, optics size, and varied raw data integration lengths on Raman observations. Results demonstrate that cumulative advances in the TRRS system establish a new generation of Raman spectroscopic sensing amenable to long-term environmental monitoring over significant spatial extent in complex in-situ conditions. Specific advances made herein include enhanced power delivery and scattered light collection informed by the system transfer function, increases in sensitivity from multi-photon counting, and incorporation of optical multiplexing. Overall, the Time-Resolved Raman Spectroscopic System (TRRS) now offers a set of capabilities that bring in-field deployment within practical reach.</p>