Spring 2011 Newsletter

Message from the President - Social Media in the Scientific Community

Twitter

For many years, the concept of social media has been at the forefront of many industries. Looking up product or company referrals, reviewing other users comments, finding alternatives at a lower cost…social media sites have given tremendous power to the consumers and industry. The novelty of social media is exciting too…who is following who, how many friends do we have, what does our network look like. Nevertheless, as a company, Berkeley Nucleonics had been reluctant to provide content via social media or our company blog that we feel may be irrelevant to the research needs of the scientific community….but those needs are changing.

By adding tags and keywords to our posts, we are now able to connect multiple users of the same product via Youtube, sharing their project setup. Other websites like Facebook and Twitter are becoming more valuable to the First Responder community. 2011 will be the first natural disaster mock drill drill executed using Twitter in the Northeast. The industry, albeit not the early adopters (of just about anything, I may add), is embracing the value of social media and networks of people will similar tasks, experiments or missions.

Look for new products and services, great user tech notes and tutorial videos in the months ahead as we pioneer the small pocket of the social media space that may have interest to you. It’s not so different from our traditional business model, taking on some of the toughest specifications challenges in specialized research areas not addressed by our colleagues at Agilent, GE and Canberra.

David Brown, President

Some Thoughts on Crystal Hydration of Various Scintillator Materials

Some scintillation crystals like e.g. NaI(Tl) and Lil(Eu), are hydroscopic and are therefore easily damaged when exposed to moisture in air at normal humidity levels. The hermetic seals used in these assemblies must be protected at all times. Avoid using strong organic solvents which may dissolve the seals or soften them and never expose the detector to mechanical shock which may crack or chip the seals. Detectors specially designed for operation during vibration and / or shock conditions have their own specifications regarding these parameters. In Nal(TI) crystals, hydration first appears as yellow spots on the surface and in a further stage as a distinct yellow tint of the crystal. Hydrated Nal(TI) is an excellent absorber of its own blue scintillation light. Hydration will significantly degrade the light output (and its homogeneity) and thereby the energy resolution of the scintillation detector. Except for low energy radiation, the counting efficiency is usually not degraded if the detector gain is increased sufficiently.

CsI(Na), CsI(TI) and undoped CsI are not really hydroscopic in the sense that these crystals can be stored in a normal laboratory environment. However, a high relative humidity (> 50 %) will attack the surface of the crystals (producing a white veil) since these crystal materials are soluble in water. The crystal can be restored by repolishing. For the above reason, CsI crystals should NOT get into contact with materials that can absorb moisture.

BGO, YAP:Ce or CdWO4 crystals and other non-soluble crystals can be cleaned with ethanol and a soft tissue.

Time Interval Counter with 1 Picosecond Accuracy on a Single Shot

1 pS Time Interval Counter

Berkeley Nucleonics Corporation is excited to introduce the Model 1120 Time Interval Counter (TIC). The Model 1120 represents a breakthrough in signal measurement with 1pS resolution on single-shot timing requirements. The start input and stop input connectors allow user to cable a variety of instruments to the TIC and measure the time delay between the events with unprecedented accuracy. The user may select a trigger level and slope (+ or -) for greater control of test parameters.

The Model 1120 includes a simple, front panel interface to allow researchers to modify setup parameters without the need for a remote PC interface. The recorded data is stored in the Model 1120’s non-volatile RAM for later readout (front panel or Ethernet).

Radioactive Source Disposal Services

Radioactive Source Disposal

Berkeley Nucleonics is now offering support for your radioactive source disposal needs. BNC is fully licensed, under a Type A Broadscope license awarded by the USNRC, to provide services such as the transfer, transport, packaging, repackaging, and borkering of radioactive sealed sources for the purpose of disposal. Many of these sources are used in equipment and processes such as Orphan Waste, Medical Waste, Medical Isotopes (brachytherapy seeds), Gas Chromoatographs, Portable Nuclear Density / Moisture Gauges, etc.

To ease the headache of disposal preparation, we can provide : on-site packaging / repackaging, on-site pickup, completion of DOT shipping and "transfer of custody" forms, on-site leak testing (required for transport), decontamination (if required) & decommissioning support, and transport index (TI) Radiation Surveys.

More Horsepower under the Hood – 16 Channels

16 Channels

The latest Digital Delay Generator / Pulse Generator from Berkeley Nucleonics offers 16 channels of independent Delay, Width, Amplitude and Rate in a single, self-contained system. The small package is configured for rack mounting with a 2U design. The resolution is 250pS and the timing parameters may be controlled via a front panel or Ethernet remote. With the growing complexity of a laser system or experiment setup, rely on BNC for large numbers of synchronous channels.