• FAQ
    • Deposit your work
    • Login
    View Item 
    •   Rice Scholarship Home
    • Rice University Graduate Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    • Rice University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    •   Rice Scholarship Home
    • Rice University Graduate Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    • Rice University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Implementation of techniques for background reduction in low-energy gamma ray telescopes

    Thumbnail
    Name:
    1377053.PDF
    Size:
    4.243Mb
    Format:
    PDF
    View/Open
    Author
    Moss, Michael Jamieson
    Date
    1995
    Degree
    Master of Science
    Abstract
    Prometheus I, a low-energy ($\sim$0.06-12.0 MeV), balloon-borne gamma ray telescope has been developed and successfully flown. It consists of a central NaI(Tl) detector that is segmented into an array of 9 x 9 crystals and an active anticoincidence shield of thick plastic scintillator. Implemented on Prometheus are several background reduction techniques which allow it to be 10 times more sensitive to aperture gamma rays than previous generations of low-energy gamma ray telescopes. First, a $\beta$ ray rejection method is used. Next, a low-Z shield minimizes cosmic ray activation. Also layers of Li$\sp6$ absorb slow neutrons, thereby reducing background caused from inelastic neutron scattering and neutron capture. Finally the use of lightweight, low-Z construction materials minimizes locally produced background. Semi-analytical calculations and preliminary in-flight count rate data confirm the usefulness of these techniques.
    Keyword
    Optics
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Collections
    • Rice University Electronic Theses and Dissertations [10740]

    Home | FAQ | Contact Us
    Managed by the Digital Scholarship Services at Fondren Library, Rice University
    Physical Address: 6100 Main Street, Houston, Texas 77005
    Mailing Address: MS-44, P.O.BOX 1892, Houston, Texas 77251-1892
     

     

    Browse

    Entire ArchiveCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsTypeThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsType

    My Account

    Login

    Statistics

    View Usage Statistics

    Home | FAQ | Contact Us
    Managed by the Digital Scholarship Services at Fondren Library, Rice University
    Physical Address: 6100 Main Street, Houston, Texas 77005
    Mailing Address: MS-44, P.O.BOX 1892, Houston, Texas 77251-1892