• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제51권3호
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• pp.719-722
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• 2019

Gamma-ray images generally suffer from a lot of noise because of low photon detection in the gamma camera system. The purpose of this study is to improve the image quality in gamma-ray images using a gamma camera system with a fast nonlocal means (FNLM) noise reduction algorithm with an acceleration function. The designed FNLM algorithm is based on local region considerations, including the Euclidean distance in the gamma-ray image and use of the encoded information. To evaluate the noise characteristics, the normalized noise power spectrum (NNPS), contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), and coefficient of variation (COV) were used. According to the NNPS result, the lowest values can be obtained using the FNLM noise reduction algorithm. In addition, when the conventional methods and the FNLM noise reduction algorithm were compared, the average CNR and COV using the proposed algorithm were approximately 2.23 and 7.95 times better than those of the noisy image, respectively. In particular, the image-processing time of the FNLM noise reduction algorithm can achieve the fastest time compared with conventional noise reduction methods. The results of the image qualities related to noise characteristics demonstrated the superiority of the proposed FNLM noise reduction algorithm in a gamma camera system.

• 한국정보통신학회논문지
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• 제20권12호
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• pp.2410-2416
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• 2016

전 세계적으로 비핵화를 추구하고 있으나 북한의 계속되는 핵실험 등으로 핵폭에 대한 관심이 지속적으로 증가하고 있다. 핵 폭발 또는 우주환경에서의 발생되는 펄스형 감마선은 매우 짧은 시간동안 고에너지를 전달하기에 전자소자에 큰 피해를 줄 수 있다. 이러한 전자소자의 피해정도를 확인하기 위한 연구를 수행하려면 핵폭 또는 우주환경에서 발생할 수 있는 펄스형 감마선 조사시설이 필요하다. 본 논문에서는 펄스형 감마선 탐지 장치을 개발하고, 감마선 변환장치를 통해 펄스형 감마선을 생성한 후 그 출력을 분석하였다. 핵폭과 유사한 조건을 갖추기 위하여 포항가속기 연구시설의 전자빔가속장치를 이용하여 출력을 실험하였고, 그 결과 감마선 변환장치와 전지빔을 통해 생성한 펄스형 감마선의 방출과 그 출력특성을 확인하였다. 본 논문의 결과는 펄스감마선을 이용해야 하는 연구의 안정성과 정확성을 향상시키는데 기여할 것이다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권11호
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• pp.3925-3934
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• 2023

The importance of fast neutron detection for nuclear safeguards purposes has increased due to its potential advantages such as reasonable cost and higher precision for larger sample masses of nuclear materials. Pulse-shape discrimination (PSD) is inevitably used to discriminate neutron- and gamma-ray- induced signals from organic scintillators of very high gamma sensitivity. The light output (LO) threshold corresponding to several MeV of recoiled proton energy could be necessary to achieve fine PSD performance. However, this leads to neutron count losses and possible distortion of results obtained by neutron multiplicity counting (NMC)-based nuclear material accountancy (NMA). Moreover, conventional PSD techniques are not effective for counting of neutrons in a high-gamma-ray environment, even under a sufficiently high LO threshold. In the present work, PSD performance (figure-of-merit, FOM) according to LO bands was confirmed using a conventional charge comparison method (CCM) and compared with results obtained by convolution neural network (CNN)-based PSD algorithms. Also, it was attempted, for the first time ever, to reject fake neutron signals from distorted PSD regions where neutron-induced signals are normally detected. The overall results indicated that higher neutron detection efficiency with better accuracy could be achieved via CNN-based PSD algorithms.

• 한국정보통신학회논문지
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• 제20권10호
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• pp.2001-2006
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• 2016

감마선 공간 탐지 장치는 감마선원을 스캔하여 영상화 한 후 스테레오 영상처리기술을 적용하여 탐지선원까지의 거리를 측정한다. 또한 실제 공간의 방사선원에 대한 분포 정보를 제공해 준다. 본 논문에서는 감마선 탐지장치가 3차원 공간상에서 장치로부터 선원을 찾기 위해 스캔하는 탐지 시간을 단축 시킬 수 있도록 감마선 탐지 고속화 알고리즘을 구현하였다. 그리고 감마선 조사 시험장에서 실험을 통해 그 성능을 검증하였다. 탐지시험 결과 고속 탐지를 위한 알고리즘을 적용할 경우 단일선원을 탐지할 경우 좌 우 스테레오 영상 획득 시보다 약 35% 의 탐지 시간을 단축시킬 수 있음을 확인하였다. 또한 사용자에게 방사선 공간분포 정보를 효율적으로 전달하기 위한 감마선원 분포의 입체 가시화를 구현하여 방사선원에 대한 정보를 제공할 수 있도록 하였다.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• 제30권3호
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• pp.159-162
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• 2013

We report the detection of a quasi-sinusoidally modulated optical flux with a period of 4.6343 hour in the optical and infrared band of the Fermi source 2FGL J2339.7-0531. Comparing the multi-wavelength observations, we suggest that 2FGL J2339.7- 0531 is a ${\gamma}$-ray emitting millisecond pulsar (MSP) in a binary system with an optically visible late-type companion accreted by the pulsar, where the MSP is responsible for the ${\gamma}$-ray emission while the optical and infrared emission originate from the heated side of the companion. Based on the optical properties, the companion star is believed to be heated by the pulsar and reaches peak magnitude when the heated side faces the observer. We conclude that 2FGL J2339.7-0531 is a member of a subclass of ${\gamma}$-ray emitting pulsars -the 'black widows'- recently revealed to be evaporating their companions in the late-stage of recycling as a prominent group of these newly revealed Fermi sources.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제53권1호
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• pp.337-343
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• 2021

In this work, self-absorption correction factor related to the variation of the composition and the density of soil samples were evaluated using the p-type HPGe detector. The validated MCNP5 simulation model of this detector was used to evaluate its Full Energy Peak Efficiency (FEPE) under the variation of the composition and the density of the analysed samples. The results indicates that FEPE calculation of low gamma ray is affected by the composition and the density of soil samples. The self-absorption correction factors for different gamma-ray energies which was fitted as a function of FEPEs via density and energy and fitting parameters as polynomial function for the logarithm neper of gamma ray energy help to calculate quickly the detection efficiency of detector. Factor Analysis for the influence of the element composition in analysed samples on the FEPE indicates the FEPE distribution changes from non-metal to metal groups when the gamma ray energy increases from 92 keV to 238 keV. At energies above 238 keV, the FEPE primarily depends only on the metal elements and is significantly affected by aluminium and silicon composition in soil samples.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제55권11호
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• pp.4002-4018
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• 2023

An integrated neutron interrogation system has been developed for non-destructive assay of highly-radioactive special nuclear materials, to accumulate knowledge of the method through developing and using it. The system combines a differential die-away (DDA) measurement system for the quantification of nuclear materials and a prompt gamma-ray analysis (PGA) system for the detection of neutron poisons which disturb the DDA measurements; a common D-T neutron generator is used. A special care has been taken for the selection of materials to reduce the background gamma rays produced by the interrogation neutrons. A series of measurements were performed to test the basic performance of the system. The results show that the DDA system can quantify plutonium of as small as 20 mg and it is not affected by intense neutron background up to 1.57 × 10⁷ s^-1 and gamma ray of 4.43 × 10¹⁰ s^-1. The gamma-ray background counting rate at the PGA detector was reduced down to 3.9 × 10³ s^-1 even with the use of the D-T neutron generator. The test measurements show that the PGA system is capable of detecting 0.783 g of boron and about 86.8 g of gadolinium in 30 min.

• 한국정보통신학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국정보통신학회 2017년도 추계학술대회
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• pp.702-704
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• 2017

원전 해체 및 사고 시 신속한 제염작업을 위해서는 감마선원에 대한 정확한 정보가 필수적이다. 제거해야할 감마선원의 위치를 보다 효율적으로 나타내기 위하여 실측영상을 기반으로 한 공간영역을 생성하고. 방사선원의 분포를 표현함으로써 보다 신속하게 감마선원의 제염작업을 수행할 수 있다. 기 개발된 감마선 영상화 장치는 감마선원에 대한 탐지 후 가시영상과 중첩하여 2차원 영상만을 제공하고 있지만 선원까지의 거리정보 등은 나타내지 못하고 있다. 본 논문에서는 보다 효율적인 제염작업을 위해 감마선원에 대한 분포정보와 함께 거리값을 기반으로 한 3차원 모델링 결과의 산출하고 사용자가 직접 확인할 수 있는 가시화 및 운용환경 개발에 대하여 연구하였다. 본 논문의 결과는 향후 스테레오기반의 감마선 탐지장치의 성능개선을 위해 활용될 것이다.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• 제30권2호
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• pp.83-85
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• 2013

Anomalous X-ray pulsars (AXPs) are thought to be magnetars which are young isolated neutron stars with extremely strong magnetic fields of > $10^{14}$ Gauss. Their tremendous magnetic fields inferred from the spin parameters provide a huge energy reservoir to power the observed X-ray emission. High-energy emission above 0.3 MeV has never been detected despite intensive search. Here, we present the possible Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) detection of ${\gamma}$-ray pulsations above 200 MeV from the AXP, 1E 2259+586, which puts the current theoretical models of ${\gamma}$-ray emission mechanisms of magnetars into challenge. We speculate that the high-energy ${\gamma}$-rays originate from the outer magnetosphere of the magnetar.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• 제41권2호
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• pp.81-86
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• 2016

Background: For positron emission tomography (PET) application, cadmium zinc telluride (CZT) has been investigated by several institutes to replace detectors from a conventional system using photomultipliers or Silicon-photomultipliers (SiPMs). The spatial and energy resolution in using CZT can be superior to current scintillator-based state-of-the-art PET detectors. CZT has been under development for several years at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) to provide a high performance gamma ray detection, which needs a single crystallinity, a good uniformity, a high stopping power, and a wide band gap. Materials and Methods: Before applying our own grown CZT detectors in the prototype PET system, we investigated preliminary research with a developed discrete type data acquisition (DAQ) system for coincident events at 128 anode pixels and two common cathodes of two CZT detectors from Redlen. Each detector has a $19.4{\times}19.4{\times}6mm^3$ volume size with a 2.2 mm anode pixel pitch. Discrete amplifiers consist of a preamplifier with a gain of $8mV{\cdot}fC^{-1}$ and noise of 55 equivalent noise charge (ENC), a $CR-RC^4$ shaping amplifier with a $5{\mu}s$ peak time, and an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) driver. The DAQ system has 65 mega-sample per second flash ADC, a self and external trigger, and a USB 3.0 interface. Results and Discussion: Characteristics such as the current-to-voltage curve, energy resolution, and electron mobility life-time products for CZT detectors are investigated. In addition, preliminary results of gamma ray imaging using 511 keV of a $^{22}Na$ gamma ray source were obtained. Conclusion: In this study, the DAQ system with a CZT radiation sensor was successfully developed and a PET image was acquired by two sets of the developed DAQ system.