Radiation Education Kit
The Radiation Education Kit is a setup of radiation camera, radioisotope sources, and accessories to better understand nuclear and particle physics. The kit brings the latest CERN technology to classrooms and lets the students discover the invisible world of radiation. The same technology, Advacam’s MiniPIX, is being used by NASA to monitor radiation on the International Space Station.
Description
Advacam’s Minipix EDU comes with Pixet Basic software that provides a simple interface for analyzing radiation. The accessories and experiments are designed to help students better understand muons, alpha, beta, gamma, and other particles.
The kit is extensible beyond the provided experiments. The translation stage is a standard platform with dimensions provided. Thus, you may come up with your own ideas and perform novel experiments. Share the experiments on the online platform and discover the ideas from other creative people like you. The online community also helps with technical issues and serves as a platform for Q&As.
Components of Radiation Education Kit:
- Advacam’s MiniPIX EDU camera (detector) Click for datasheet
- Pixet Basic software
- List of experiments
- Polonium-210 (ɑ source)
- Strontium-90 (β source)
- Cobalt-60 (ɣ and β source)
- Thoriated Electrodes, thorium-232(ɑ, β and ɣ source)
- Translation stage
- Camera holder
- Source holder
- Electrodes holder
- Collimator
- Detector cap
- Aluminum, stainless steel, copper, brass and lead plates
- Thumb screws
- USB cable
Device parameters
Operating conditions
| Symbol | Parameter | Value | Units | Comment |
| TA | Ambient Temperature Range | 0-50 | °C | |
| Φ | Humidity | <80 | % | Not condensing |
| Altitude* | <2000 | m | Above sea level | |
| IP | IP rating | IP40 | With cover |
*for use in vacuum chamber, operate only with air pressure lower than 10-3Pa Location: Intended for indoor use, dust free.
Electrical Specification
TA = 25°C, USB voltage VCC = 4.8V
| Symbol | Parameter | Min | Typ | Max | Units | Comment |
| VCC | Supply Voltage | 4.0 | 5.0 | 5.5 | V | Comply with USB 2.0 |
| ICC2 | Chip active | 500 | mA | Comply with USB 2.0 | ||
| P1 | Power Dissipation | 2.5 | W | |||
| Bias Voltage Source for Sensor Diode | ||||||
| VBIAS | Bias Voltage | 3 | 200 | V | ||
Performance characteristics of Timepix
| Symbol | Parameter | Min | Typ | Max | Units | Comment |
| f | Frame Rate | 55 | fps | with USB 2.0 Host | ||
| TREAD | Frame Readout Time1 | 19 | ms |
Sensor parameters
TA = 25°C
| Symbol | Parameter | Si | Units | Comment | ||
| Thickness | 100 | 300 | 500 | µm | ||
| σ | Energy resolution of energy discrimination threshold (σ @ 23 keV) | 0.5 | keV | |||
| σ | Energy resolution of energy discrimination threshold (σ @ 60 keV) | 0.6 | keV | |||
| σ | Energy resolution in full spectral mode (σ @ 23 keV) | 0.7 | keV | |||
| σ | Energy resolution in full spectral mode (σ @ 60 keV) | 1.0 | keV | |||
| Typical detectable energy range for X-rays4 | 5 to 60 | keV | See chart below | |||
| Pixel size | 55 | µm | ||||
Modes of readout chip operation
| Type | Mode | Precision | Description |
| Frame (reading all pixels) | Event | 13bit/frame | 1 output image: Number of Events per pixel |
| ToT | 13bit/frame | 1 output image: Sum of all Energies deposited in given pixel(Time Over Threshold) | |
| ToA | 13bit/frame | 1 output image: Time of arrival of first event in given pixel |
Device description
USB connector
USB type A, Standard USB 2.0 Full-Speed.
Mechanical dimensions
 |
| All dimensions are in mm. |
| * Sensitive surface distance from top of the box is for 300 µm sensor thickness. |
1 During Readout time (or Dead time), no charge is collected from the sensor.
