Patent ID: 7518117

Claim:
A method for determining the position of energetic particle interactions within a detector, the method comprising: providing a drift medium within the detector; allowing an energetic particle to interact with the drift medium and thereby produce ionization electrons at an interaction location; generating an interaction signal indicating that an interaction between the energetic particle and the drift medium has occurred; establishing a drift field within the drift medium whereby the ionization electrons are directed toward an induction array and a collector, wherein the induction array comprises a plurality of conductive elements mounted at an offset angle relative to the collector; providing a shield array between the interaction location and the induction array; opening a portion of the shield array corresponding to a first plurality of coordinates for a period of time during which the ionization electrons are expected to reach the shield array, thereby selectively allowing the ionization electrons to pass through the shield array and move toward a portion of the induction array; and detecting the ionization electrons at the induction array for determining at least one coordinate corresponding to the interaction location.