Remote detection of radioactive material using mid-IR laser-driven electron avalanche

Remote detection of a distant, shielded sample of radioactive material is an important goal, but it is made difficult by the finite spatial range of the decay products. Here, we present a proof-of-principle demonstration of a remote detection scheme using mid-infrared (mid-IR) (λ = 3.9 μm) laser-ind...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science advances 2019-03, Vol.5 (3), p.eaav6804-eaav6804
Main Authors: Schwartz, Robert M, Woodbury, Daniel, Isaacs, Joshua, Sprangle, Phillip, Milchberg, Howard M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied Physics
NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
SciAdv r-articles
Science & Technology - Other Topics
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Summary:Remote detection of a distant, shielded sample of radioactive material is an important goal, but it is made difficult by the finite spatial range of the decay products. Here, we present a proof-of-principle demonstration of a remote detection scheme using mid-infrared (mid-IR) (λ = 3.9 μm) laser-induced avalanche breakdown of air. In the scheme's most basic version, we observe on-off breakdown sensitivity to the presence of an external radioactive source. In another realization of the technique, we correlate the shift of the temporal onset of avalanche to the degree of seed ionization from the source. We present scaling of the interaction with laser intensity, verify observed trends with numerical simulations, and discuss the use of mid-IR laser-driven electron avalanche breakdown to detect radioactive material at range.
ISSN:2375-2548
2375-2548
DOI:10.1126/sciadv.aav6804