WATERTOWN, Mass., March 24 (UPI) -- Radiation Monitoring Devices Inc. of Massachusetts has gained additional U.S. patent claims for advances in neutron and gamma radiation detector materials.
The materials are capable of responding independently to different types of radiation and are of critical national importance because the most commonly available technology for detecting neutrons in Homeland Security applications – specifically, neutron detectors based on gaseous Helium-3 -- is becoming impractical because of serious limitations on the availability of the gas.
Dynasil Corp., parent company of Radiation Monitoring Devices, said it has developed specialized production furnaces designed to make the crystals in large volumes. The initial furnaces have been deployed and additional devices are expected to be in service in the next several months.
It said that while its Research Division in Massachusetts has the capability of producing the crystals and resulting detectors in prototype quantities, a production facility for the technology is being established at Dynasil's Hilger Crystals Division in Margate, England, the first step in a major capacity expansion designed to allow that division to produce not only this particular type of crystal but also a line of additional, unique, neutron- and gamma ray-sensitive crystals that are in development in Watertown, Mass.
Dynasil recently expanded its patent protection over its dual-mode radiation detection technology with the approval of additional patent claims that cover methods of detecting both neutron and gamma radiation using RMD's proprietary scintillator compositions.
