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Douglas McGregor>> The SMART Laboratory which stands for Semiconductor Materials and Radiological
Technologies Laboratory is dedicated to the production of materials and devices for radiation
detection.
I moved the laboratory from Michigan to Kansas State University in 2002. Since that time,
the laboratory has more than doubled in size and at this point in time is one of the larger
laboratories dedicated to radiation detector development.
Douglas McGregor>> The radiation detectors that we build, both neutron detectors and
gamma ray detectors can be used for a variety of different things. Perhaps one of the driving
forces behind the funding that we get is the fact that the devices can be used to intercept
nuclear materials that might be smuggled into this country.
Traditional neutron detectors are made out of Helium 3, they’re gas-filled tubes and
these tubes can be rather large and bulky. They are expensive.
Philip Ugorowski>> And they rely on a gas called Helium 3, which is running out. The
race is on around the world to try and find an alternative to Helium 3. Our lab has been
working the last ten years making neutron detectors that don’t rely on Helium 3.
Douglas McGregor>> They’re compact by comparison to traditional detectors.
Philip Ugorowski>> Each of these circles is one detector.
Philip Ugorowski>> We expect that these detectors will sell for less than $20, which makes them
easy to put in a lot of places, even makes them disposable.
Douglas McGregor>> We have clients that we deliver these devices to.
Philip Ugorowski>> We’re not trying to be a factory. We just want to do it at a small
scale until we have the best possible device. Then, here’s where we scale it up to where
industry can take it.
Douglas McGregor>> The SMART Laboratory has been successful mainly because of the high
quality of students here at Kansas State. There’s no doubt about that.