High Efficiency Photon Detection

Patent Description

A detection pixel includes a material that is chosen so that its (averaged) atomic number density leads to the Compton process being the dominant scattering mechanism in response to incident photons, leading to production of Compton electrons with sufficient number and kinetic energy to produce an electric or magnetic response in the material. The incident photon and Compton electrons each have a characteristic travel distance in the material, and the detection pixel has at least one dimension that is selected according to a range defined by these characteristic travel distances.

The figure below shows an array of pixels 602 arranged in an imaging system, where in some embodiments such an imaging system is an x-ray imager. The system further comprises a source of x-rays 604 that is arranged to produce photons that can pass through a subject and be received by the array of pixels 602. In some embodiments the system is a medical imaging system such as a pediatric imaging system, an emergency medical imaging system, or other type of medical imaging system. In other embodiments the system is a security system such as a system configured for airport security, for passengers or for objects. In other embodiments, the system is a security system used for detection of gamma rays with energy in the range of MeV, sourced from special nuclear materials. In other embodiments, the system is a medical system used to track the location of radioactive tags used in diagnostic medical imaging. There are many ways of configuring the imaging system and the system may be applied to a wide range of different subjects.