Radiation facilities

The research activities of staff within the CSI cover the fields of particle physics, space science and medical research where the need for an understanding of the radiation environment and its effects on detector operation is paramount. The group has extensive practical and computational modelling expertise using in house laboratory facilities and various simulation codes including Geant4, MCNP, PENELOPE, FLUKA and SPENVIS. The CSI has access to a wide range of radiation facilities and test equipment, including a cobalt source for gamma ray irradiation, a Bede copper anode high intensity micro-focus X-ray source, Oxford Instruments tungsten filament X-ray tubes, and sealed alpha sources. 

Collaborations

The group has carried out a variety of research projects looking into the effects of protons, electrons and gamma rays on CCDs, optical fibres, RADFETs, quantum dots and glass materials, using in house facilities and through collaboration with many other institutes, including the Gray Laboratory Cancer Research Trust, the University of Birmingham, PSI and KVI. Other collaborative programmes of research within the CSI have included the following groups, industrial bodies and agencies: CERN, STFC, RAL, Electron Tubes, Hamamatsu, Astrium, Johnson Matthey, ESA, TNO, Alcatel-Alenia Space, Micron Semiconductor, the Universities of Manchester, Leicester and Bradford.

Specialist services and technologies

• Gamma ray production from high and low-rate 60Co sources (~700 Ci and ~11 Ci respectively)    
• Dosimetry provided by Farmer air-ionisation chamber, photodiode detectors, Gafchromic film
• Bede high intensity micro-focus X-ray source 
• Oxford Instruments 74W filament X-ray tubes 
• Open sources: 55Fe, 241Am, 90Sr etc.

At work in one of the Brunel 60Co facilities

Farmer dosimetry equipment

The Bede micro-focus X-ray source being used in XRF/XRD applications