On 14 July 2021, the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research received a patent for the invention “Method for measuring intensity of radiation of unknown composition”. The authors of the invention are Georgy Alexandrovich Shelkov, Daniil Dmitrievich Rastorguev, Vladislav Andreevich Rozhkov, and Elizaveta Alexeevna Cherepanova.

A leading researcher of DLNP JINR and co-author of the invention G. A. Shelkov

The invention relates to nuclear emission measurements of determining the proportion of charged and neutral particles in the composition of radiation from any sources of radiation. It is a method for measuring the intensity of radiation of unknown composition, wherein the radiation is passed through at least two detectors and a processing system. Detection is executed during irradiation. The detectors themselves have sensitive elements of different volumes. The total radiation intensity and the ratio of the contributions of charged and neutral components in the measured radiation are determined based on the ratio of the counting rates in different detectors using a processing system including a microcontroller.

A leading researcher of the Dzhelepov Laboratory of Nuclear Problems JINR and co-author of the invention Georgy Shelkov said that the new method for measuring the intensity of radiation was born as a “side effect” during fundamental research at the ATLAS detector of the Large Hadron Collider (CERN):

“The idea appeared during the processing of data from the radiation background monitoring system created at JINR in the ATLAS – GaAsPix mine. It used (for completely different reasons) pixel semiconductor detectors of different thicknesses with sensors made of GaAs-1mm and 0.5 mm. Thus the idea to use this polythickness to measure the ratio of charged and neutral components in a radiation background of unknown composition appeared. The idea is simple and seems clever, so we submitted an application,” he said.

Staff of DLNP Sector No.2 of Proton-Proton Interactions, co-authors V. A. Rozhkov, D. D. Rastorguev, E. A. Cherepanova

The patent has yet to find practical application. Potentially, based on this scientific invention, dosimetry devices, including portable ones, can be created. Time saving is a significant advantage of the new measurement method compared to other methods currently used both for the exposure (measurement) and for the analysis of the obtained data. In fact, according to the abstract of the patent, “the invention solves the problem of determining the proportion of charged and neutral particles in the composition of radiation from any sources of radiation directly during irradiation.”

JINR staff congratulates the authors on receiving the patent for their invention!