Postgraduate and honours research projects - detector development

Projects listed on this page are best suited to postgraduate students (Hons/Masters/PhD) with a physics or engineering background (particularly electrical and electronics engineering). Students with interests aligned with these projects may also be interested in projects affiliated with the Co-operative Research Centre for Biomedical Imaging Development or projects affiliated with the Centre of Excellence in Coherent X-ray Science.

Students wishing to undertake a final year project should also see our page for undergraduate projects.

For more information on projects, please contact the listed supervisor.

Real time data acquisition and measurement for nuclear medical imaging

Dr Chris Hall, Monash Centre for Synchrotron Science
Mr Andy Berry, Instrumentation Group, Monash Centre for Synchrotron Science

The Monash Centre for Synchrotron Science Instrumentation Group is involved in many areas of high energy photon detection. Applications such as coherent x-ray imaging or nuclear medicine require the detection of photons from the soft X-ray regime (3 keV) to low energy gamma radiation (1 MeV) respectively. The process of detector design and optimisation is coupled to the methods used in data acquisition, experimental setup and data sorting and image reconstruction.

The Generic Data AcQuisition (GDAQ) card has been designed and developed by the Monash Centre for Synchrotron Science Instrumentation Group, and is in the final stages of testing for deployment to different detection systems. As opposed to analogue systems, all pulse shape processing may be conducted in firm/soft ware using the ultra-high sampling rate of these cards. This project looks to conduct final testing of these cards using physical detection systems. The project involves using BGO/Other detectors to acquire multi-channel pulse-shape data using the GDAQ cards.

The detector-card interface will be exploited to carry out detector characterisation with the intended result of implementing pulse-shape algorithms in real-time using the GDAQ FPGA logic. The resulting system can be used to measure interactions of single photons. Measurements taken from the detector and DAQ will be used to form a Compton camera, PET or SPECT demonstrator, and optimise its geometry.

Novel imaging applications for photon counting high spatial and spectroscopic resolution X-ray detectors

Prof Rob Lewis, Monash Centre for Synchrotron Science
Mr Andy Berry, Instrumentation Group, Monash Centre for Synchrotron Science

The Monash Centre for Synchrotron Science is developing a energy resolving pixel xray detector for medical imaging application via its CRC in BID program. The ability to detect both X-ray energy and positional information open a range of new applications for this detector, which be applied to possible new industrial products in areas such as home land security, non destructive testing, product quality control, advanced sorting, foreign object identification and baggage scanning.

This project allows the individual, the opportunity to use tools being developed within the group to show proof of principle of any of these or other novel application through model simulation and hands on experimentation . This work will require use of the Australian Synchrotron as a source of 'gold standard' X-rays.

Spectroscopic resolution improvement in room temperature X-ray detectors

Prof Rob Lewis, Monash Centre for Synchrotron Science
Mr Andy Berry, Instrumentation Group, Monash Centre for Synchrotron Science

The Monash Centre for Synchrotron Science is developing a energy resolving pixel X-ray detector for medical imaging application via its CRC in BID program. The ability to detect both X-ray energy and positional information open a range of new applications for this detector. The intrinsic energy resolution is currently around 5-10% dE/E.

We would like to develop techniques which take into account the processes that limit the intrinsic resolution to effectively deconvolve these effects by calibration using monochromic X-rays at various rates.

This project allows the individual, the opportunity to develop these ideas using model simulation tools being developed within the group and hands on experimentation . This work will require use of the Australian Synchrotron as a source of 'gold standard' X-rays.