Disclosed is a directional gamma ray or neutron detector that locates a source both horizontally and vertically. In some embodiments, the detector comprises four rod scintillators around a shield, and an orthogonal panel scintillator mounted frontward of the rod scintillators. The azimuthal angle of the source may be calculated according to the detection rates of the rod scintillators, while the polar angle of the source may be calculated from the panel scintillator rate using a predetermined angular correlation function. Thus, the exact location of the source can be found from a single data set without iterative rotations. Embodiments of the detector enable rapid detection and precise localization of clandestine nuclear and radiological weapons in applications ranging from hand-held survey meters and walk-through portals, to vehicle cargo inspection stations and mobile area scanners. Such detectors are needed to detect clandestine nuclear weapons worldwide.

A system of particle detectors can determine the location of a source without rotations or iterations. Embodiments of the system may comprise a middle detector flanked by two shield plates, with two side detector panels exterior to the shields. The middle detector may be positioned toward the front and orthogonal to the side detectors. By comparing a ratio of the detector data to a predetermined angular correlation function, the system can determine both the sign and magnitude of the source angle in real-time. Embodiments of the system can rapidly and automatically localize sources including nuclear and radiological weapons materials, whether in vehicles or cargo containers, and can provide improved sensitivity in walk-through personnel portal applications, enable enhanced detection of hidden weapons by a mobile area scanner, and enable a hand-held survey meter that indicates the radiation level as well as the location of the source of radiation.

Disclosed is a directional gamma ray or neutron detector system that locates a radioactive source both horizontally and vertically. In some embodiments, the system comprises four side detectors arrayed around a detector axis, and an orthogonal front detector mounted frontward of the side detectors. Embodiments can calculate the azimuthal angle of the source based on the detection rates of the side detectors, while the polar angle of the source may be calculated from the front detector rate using a predetermined angular correlation function, thereby localizing the source from a single data set without iterative rotations. In applications such as hand-held survey meters, walk-through portals, vehicle cargo inspection stations, and mobile area scanners, embodiments enable rapid detection and precise localization of clandestine nuclear and radiological weapons.

A system of particle detectors can determine the location of a source without rotations or iterations. Embodiments of the system may comprise a middle detector flanked by two shield plates, with two side detector panels exterior to the shields. The middle detector may be positioned toward the front and orthogonal to the side detectors. By comparing a ratio of the detector data to a predetermined angular correlation function, the system can determine both the sign and magnitude of the source angle in real-time. Embodiments of the system can rapidly and automatically localize sources including nuclear and radiological weapons materials, whether in vehicles or cargo containers, and can provide improved sensitivity in walk-through personnel portal applications, enable enhanced detection of hidden weapons by a mobile area scanner, and enable a hand-held survey meter that indicates the radiation level as well as the location of the source of radiation.

Described herein are systems and methods for positioning a radiation source with respect to one or more regions of interest in a coordinate system. Such systems and methods may be used in emission guided radiation therapy (EGRT) for the localized delivery of radiation to one or more patient tumor regions. These systems comprise a gantry movable about a patient area, where a plurality of positron emission detectors, a radiation source are arranged movably on the gantry, and a controller. The controller is configured to identify a coincident positron annihilation emission path and to position the radiation source to apply a radiation beam along the identified emission path. The systems and methods described herein can be used alone or in conjunction with surgery, chemotherapy, and/or brachytherapy for the treatment of tumors.

An apparatus for visualizing a movable radiation source, the apparatus comprising: a radiation angular position sensor arranged for generating an angular position, with respect to a sensor axis, of a radiation source emitting radiations in front of said radiation angular position sensor; a camera having a camera axis distinct from the sensor axis; a light diverter arranged in front of said radiation angular position sensor for diverting toward the camera, light originally emitted in front of said radiation angular position sensor toward the radiation angular position sensor, the light diverter being arranged to not change the direction of radiations emitted in front of said radiation angular position sensor; and a composite image generator arranged for adding to a camera image captured by the camera a radiation source marker at a position derived from said angular position and automatically scaled to the camera image size and resolution.

A large-area directional radiation detection system may include a large number of slab-shaped detectors stacked side-by-side comprising alternate long and short detectors, where the long detectors are longitudinally longer than the short detectors. The long detectors may collimate or restrict the lateral field of view of the short detectors, so that a particular short detector that is aligned with the source has an unobstructed view of the source. By comparing detection distributions in the long and short detectors, a processor can determine the angular position and distance of a source. The high detection efficiency and large solid angle of the detector array may enable rapid detection of even well-shielded threat sources at substantial distances, while simultaneously determining the positions of any sources detected.

The present invention provides a radiation imaging apparatus capable of maintaining the quality of an image obtained even when a dose incident on a radiation detector changes suddenly. The present invention is a radiation imaging apparatus including a radiation source, a radiation detector to detect radiation emitted from the radiation source, and a cooling unit to cool the radiation detector; and is characterized in that the radiation detector has a counting circuit to output a number of photons in radiation counted per unit time as a photon counting rate, and the cooling unit controls a coolability of the radiation detector in response to the photon counting rate.

Described herein are systems and methods for positioning a radiation source with respect to one or more regions of interest in a coordinate system. Such systems and methods may be used in emission guided radiation therapy (EGRT) for the localized delivery of radiation to one or more patient tumor regions. These systems comprise a gantry movable about a patient area, where a plurality of positron emission detectors, a radiation source are arranged movably on the gantry, and a controller. The controller is configured to identify a coincident positron annihilation emission path and to position the radiation source to apply a radiation beam along the identified emission path. The systems and methods described herein can be used alone or in conjunction with surgery, chemotherapy, and/or brachytherapy for the treatment of tumors.

An X-ray detector includes at least two X-ray detector modules which are articulately connected to one another; a drive mechanism configured to position the at least two articulately connected X-ray modules around the sample; a control unit configured to control the drive mechanism to move the at least two detector modules relative to one another such that the at least two detector modules are arranged around the sample along a pre-calculated curved line having a curvature that depends on a selected distance between the detector and the sample. Also provided is an X-ray analysis system comprising the above X-ray detector and a method of controlling the X-ray detector.