Boss Physical Sciences LLC

Medquest Products, Inc.

Brad Paden

Gill Brent Bearnson

Jed C Ludlow

Wayne B Norris

Kenneth N Ricci

Apparatus and methods for imaging sources of gamma rays with a large area, comparatively low-cost Compton telescope (). The Compton telescope () uses multiple layers () of low-cost organic solid plastic or liquid scintillator, arranged in large arrays of identical scintillator pixels (). Photodiodes, avalanche photodiodes (), or solid-state photomultipliers are used to read out the fluorescent pulses from scintillator pixels (). Multiple scintillator pixels () are multiplexed into a few fast digitizers () and a few fast FPGA programmable digital microprocessors (). Selection rule methods are presented for processing multiple near-simultaneous gamma ray collisions within the Compton telescope () to identify trackable events that yield gamma ray image data of interest. A calibration method achieves improved energy resolution along with (x,y) position information in pixels () made of organic scintillator materials with multiple photodetectors (). Synchronization trigger signals are used from a pulsed neutron source () to maximize the signal-to-background ratio for prompt gamma neutron activation analysis (PGNAA) of objects at greater than 2 meters range, where such trigger signals are based on the estimated range to PGNAA sources and neutron time-of-flight.

Organic-scintillator compton gamma ray telescope

A magnetic bearing system allows a movable body to be positioned to a point of substantial equilibrium in an axial direction after a system shutdown. A sensor measures the axial position of the movable body to produce an displacement output. That output is then adjusted to account for a sensor offset. The adjustment is stored and can be used to position the movable body during regular operation of the system or when the system reboots or restarts. The adjusted displacement output is converted into a force for positioning the movable body. The movable body may be a rotor in a heart pump apparatus.

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Goleta, CA, United States of America

Brad Paden