69
Enhanced
Efficiency Nanowire Photocathode--NanoSciences
Corporation, Hurley Farms Industrial Park, Building 3, 115 Hurley Road, Oxford,
CT 06478; 203-267-4440
Dr.
Youseff Habib, Principal Investigator, yhabib@nanosciences.com
Dr.
John Steinbeck, Business Official, jsteinbeck@nanosciences.com
DOE
Grant No. DE-FG02-01ER83221
Amount:
$100,000
Most
photocathode materials, used in detectors for nuclear physics research, have low
detection efficiency, requiring detection systems to acquire data for long
periods of time to insure that all of the needed information is acquired for a
given event. This problem is
particularly acute when several photocathode based detectors must act in concert
to verify that an event has occurred. This
project will develop a new class of high efficiency photocathode
“metamaterials” based on nanowire arrays.
These materials can be tailored to a particular band of the spectrum for
near unity absorption of incoming radiation, thereby providing a sharp increase
inefficiency . In Phase I, simple
nanowire photocathodes will be constructed and tested using gold and cesium-gold
nanowires. The quantum efficiencies
of the nanowire photocathodes will be compared to thin film versions made of the
same materials to determine the impact of the nanowire structure on efficiency.
Commercial Applications And Other Benefits as described by awardee: High efficiency photocathodes should have application in medical imaging equipment to reduce the dose of radiation received by the patient. These materials can also make photomultiplier tubes a viable alternative to PIN and avalanche photodiodes for optical telecommunications receivers.