A Waseda University Faculty of Science and Engineering research team, led by Professor Jun Kataoka, 1st-year Doctoral student Aya Kishimoto and 2nd-year Master's student Toru Nishiyama, has succeeded in significantly enhancing the performance of a gamma ray imaging "Compton" camera. The joint research was conducted together with Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. This new technology enables smooth and accurate visualization of gamma rays which are invisible to the human eye. Application is expected in a variety of fields including scientific research, medical treatment and environmental monitoring. In particular, prompt response is still required for the urgent issue of removing radioactive substances which were released in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident. The improved Compton camera is based on the high-sensitivity mobile gamma ray camera released by Hamamatsu Photonics in September 2013 and incorporates high-accuracy three-dimensional gamma ray position measurement technology newly developed by Waseda University. While maintaining nearly the same camera size and weight, the research team succeeded in increasing the resolution by about 2 times and improving sensitivity by approximately 70%. The development work was conducted as part of the JST Program for Development of Systems and Technology for Advanced Measurement and Analysis (Radiation Measurement Field/Type of Innovative Technology) .

Links

Kataoka Lab. http://www.spxg-lab.phys.waseda.ac.jp/