Author:
Jiang W.,Cao P.,Liu X.,Fang Z.,Zhang Z.,An Q.,Shi B.,Chen J.
Abstract
Abstract
Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is a promising cancer
treatment that selectively destroys tumor cells using a neutron
beam. However, accurately and fast measuring the spatial
distribution of neutron flux is critical to ensuring effective
treatment. To address this challenge, Micromegas detectors are
applied for the first time to measure the spatial distribution of
neutron beam flux in BNCT. Due to the high flux, large area, and
multiple components of the BNCT beam, the design of readout
electronics that can handle high counting rate, large channel
numbers, high integration, and discrimination of multiple beam
components is challenging. This paper proposes a targeted readout
electronics system to overcome this challenge. A modular readout
structure based on the PCI Express (PXIe) platform is designed for
384-channel readout. A fully parallel readout structure is developed
and fast shaper parameters are optimized to achieve high counting
rate for each readout channel. A multi-channel high-speed,
large-capacity caching technique is developed to address the
high-speed data storage problem. Digital shapers are implemented in
field-programmable gate array (FPGA) to achieve high
integration. Tests demonstrate that each readout channel can support
a counting rate of 800 kHz and achieve an excellent position
resolution of 1.4 mm. Furthermore, final tests on the BNCT beam
confirm that our system can successfully measure the flux spatial
distribution of different neutron components.
Subject
Mathematical Physics,Instrumentation