- Patent Title: Mapping and imaging ionizing radiation in two and three dimensions
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Application No.: US17141270Application Date: 2021-01-05
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Publication No.: US11630218B1Publication Date: 2023-04-18
- Inventor: Brian Z. Bentz , Richard Karl Harrison , Benjamin Tong Yee , Norman Kolb , Jeffrey B. Martin , Sean Donovan Fournier , Oskar Fick Searfus , Christopher Murzyn , Christopher Blair Saltonstall, Jr.
- Applicant: National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC
- Applicant Address: US NM Albuquerque
- Assignee: National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC
- Current Assignee: National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC
- Current Assignee Address: US NM Albuquerque
- Agent Mark A. Dodd
- Main IPC: G01T1/185
- IPC: G01T1/185 ; G01T1/02 ; G06T11/00 ; G01T1/164

Abstract:
A two-dimensional imaging system and a two-dimensional or three-dimensional optical tomographic mapping system, each employing gas scintillation induced by ionizing radiation, i.e., radioluminescence, and corresponding methods, are disclosed. The systems may employ one or more cameras and corresponding UV filters (potentially solar blind filters) for imaging a radioluminescent scene. For two-dimensional or three-dimensional mapping, the resultant UV images are spatially registered with one another and then reconstructed to form a three-dimensional tomographic map of the ionizing radiation. The two-dimensional map is a plane of the three-dimensional map. The UV images may be spatially registered by using a reference source, optionally, a calibrated reference source allowing dosimetry calculations for the ionizing radiation. Molecular nitrogen is the primary candidate for the radioluminescent gas, though a controlled ambient in a chamber of nitric oxide, argon, krypton, or xenon may be employed. The reconstruction process employs an algebraic reconstruction technique or an Abel inversion.
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