Jan S. Iwanczyk 2002 NPSS Merit Award

The 2002 Merit Award of the Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society was presented to Jan S. Iwanczyk, Ph.D., on November 14 at the IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium held in Norfolk, Virginia. Joel Karp, the NSS/MIC General Chair presented Dr. Iwanczyk with the award, and in his speech, Prof. Marek Moszynski of The Soltan Institute summarized Dr. Iwanczyk’s main achievements. The citation of the Merit Award reads: “For outstanding contributions to development of compound semiconductor detectors, silicon detectors, imaging systems, and their applications in physics experiments, medicine and other fields of use”.
Dr. Iwanczyk received his M.S. degree in Electronics from the Technical University in Warsaw in 1970, and his Ph.D. degree in Physics from the Institute of Nuclear Research (INR), Swierk-Warsaw in 1977. During this time, in his doctoral thesis, he pioneered development of CdTe X-ray detectors working together with Dr. Andrzej Dabrowski of INR, Dr. Robert Triboulet of Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, France and Dr. Abdurakhman Khusainov of Ioffe Institute, Russia. For these early achievements, he was awarded the Polish National Award for Research on Cadmium Telluride Nuclear Radiation Detectors in1976.
In 1979, Dr. Iwanczyk joined the University of Southern California (USC) initially as a Research Scholar, and later as a senior Faculty Member. During this time he also worked as a consultant to several detector companies. In 1989, Dr. Iwanczyk left academia, moving into private industry working in research companies: Advanced Photonix, Inc., Xsirus, Inc. and finally the Photon Imaging group of companies.
In the early 1980s, working together with Dr. Dabrowski, Dr. Iwanczyk developed HgI2 detector technology and associated low noise preamplification electronics for use in high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy systems. He achieved record results regarding energy resolution (FWHM <200 eV at 5.9 keV) for compound semiconductor detectors operating at or near room temperature, and he proved long term stability of the performance of the detectors. As a result of this effort, for the last 15 years, TN Technology, Inc., (A Thermo Instruments Company) Round Rock, TX has produced and marketed HgI₂ detector based instruments such as “The Metallurgist” – a hand-held XRF (X-Ray Fluorescence) alloy metal analyzer, and The Spectrace9000 – a field portable XRF system for the analysis of soils, thin films and lead in paint.
Between 1986 and 1995, working together with Dr. Bradley Patt and collaborating with Prof. Keith Hodgson and Prof. Britt Hedman (both of Stanford University) he provided leadership to a team of scientists to develop a 100-element HgI₂ detector system for synchrotron radiation applications such as x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). XAS studies provide direct information about both the electronic and metrical structure of a selected absorbing atom in a complex biomolecule solution. The HgI₂ system composed of the 100-element detector, amplification and computer controlled processing electronics specifically designed for high throughput x-ray applications has been tested and installed at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (SSRL). As a result, a number of scientific papers have been published.
In the late 1980s, working with Mr. Marek Szawlowski of Advanced Photonix, Dr. Iwanczyk developed large area silicon avalanche photodetector technology for detection of small light signals. The large area avalanche photodetectors (LAAPD) are flagship products for Advanced Photonix, Inc. of Camarillo, CA, which Dr. Iwanczyk helped establish in 1991.
Working together with Dr. Khusainov he developed CdTe (PIN structure) x-ray and gamma ray detector technologies, which created a base for instruments such as the LeadStar analyzer for determining lead levels in paint, produced by Xsirius. More recently he has been working with Dr. Khuasainov on advanced CdTe PIN detectors in instruments for gamma-ray spectroscopy in materials safeguards and homeland security applications. The Radiant 200 is one such instrument, which is currently marketed through an alliance between Radiant Detector Technologies, LLC and Ametek/Ortec.
Jointly with Dr. Bradley Patt he developed large area (50 mm²) silicon drift type detectors Vortex™ for high-energy resolution (140 eV at 5.9 keV) and high-count rate (>10⁶ cps) X-ray spectroscopy. These detectors may revolutionize the x-ray detector industry by replacing existing cryogenically cooled Si[Li] systems and find new uses in x-ray instrumentation applications. Radiant Detector Technologies, LLC currently initiated marketing Vortex™ detector systems.
Dr. Iwanczyk’s recent research interests are directed toward development of HgI₂ polycrystalline films for digital X-ray imagers. The ultimate goal of this research is to create a new detector technology based on HgI₂ polycrystalline films coupled to large area flat panel amorphous silicon, thin film transistor addressed readout arrays for medical diagnostic applications.
Today, Dr. Iwanczyk holds executive positions and provides leadership in three companies he co-founded with Dr. Bradley Patt: Photon Imaging, Inc., which is engaged in research and development of all sorts of radiation detection instrumentation, Gamma Medica, Inc., which is the commercial outlet for Photon’s medical technologies, and Radiant Detector Technologies, LLC, which is the commercial outlet for Photon’s industrial and scientific technologies.
The medical technologies brought to market by Gamma Medica, Inc., include LumaGEM™, a dedicated, high-resolution solid-state gamma camera for scintimammography which is used for localization and early detection of breast cancer. LumaGEM is an FDA approved solution, and is coupled with existing upright mammography systems allowing optimal positioning of the camera for mammoscintigraphy, as well as the use of breast compression. Usefulness of this diagnostic instrument is being proven in several hospitals and a number of scientific papers have already been published.
Another key development currently marketed by Gamma Medica is its range of MicroSPECT™ animal imaging systems, which are used for high-resolution imaging of small animals in-vivo and non-invasively. The MicroSPECT products include dual modality imaging—SPECT and X-Ray CT—allowing researchers to monitor disease processes and better understand new drug treatments. MicroSPECT can be used in evaluating new pharmaceutical products and to further understand normal and abnormal bio-systems dynamically. MicroSPECT products are in use today at many leading research universities, and pharmaceutical companies, and have been used to generate many publications. For this development, Dr. Iwanczyk together with Dr. Bradley Patt and Dr. Lawrence MacDonald was awarded R&D Magazine’s R&D 100 Award for 2001, honoring the top 100 inventions of that year.
Dr. Iwanczyk has collaborated with Prof. Edward Hoffman and his group at UCLA in all medical imaging research programs since 1982, and Prof. Hoffman is a key consultant to Photon Imaging and Gamma Medica.
Dr. Iwanczyk has published over 120 papers, and several book chapters, and he holds 11 patents.
Jan S. Iwanczyk can be reached at Photon Imaging, Inc., 19355 Business Center Dr., Northridge, CA 91324; Phone: +1 818 709-2468; Fax: +1 818 709-2464; E-mail: Iwanczyk@compuserve.com.