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Neutron transmission imaging with a portable D-T neutron generator

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Abstract

Purpose

A portable fast-neutron imaging system is being developed to provide complementary information to field X-ray imaging. Applications include inspection of vehicles and infrastructure for corrosion, measurement of material levels in containers, and inspection of munitions and suspicious packages. While fast-neuron imaging generally provides lower imaging resolution compared to X-rays, fast-neutron interaction cross-sections have a weak dependence on material Z. This enables imaging of low-Z materials inside high-Z materials. Here, we discuss the limitations and current improvements in fast-neuron imaging.

Methods

Limitations in portable fast-neutron imaging systems include low D-T neutron generator output, low light production in ZnS(Cu) imaging scintillators, low resolution due to scintillator thickness and D-T spot size, and digital-panel darknoise that varies in time and position and that can be 100× larger than the neutron signal. We have made improvements in these areas through development of a segmented high light yield scintillator, panel noise mitigation techniques, and testing of new high-output, small spot size D-T neutron generators.

Results

The segmented high light yield fast-neutron scintillator demonstrated 5× increase in light compared to ZnS(Cu). An additional 2× improvement in signal-to-noise was demonstrated with panel-noise mitigation techniques. Our MCNP calculations also show good agreement with neutron imaging results

Conclusions

We have demonstrated improvements in fast-neutron imaging through development of a segmented high light yield neutron scintillator, mitigation of digital panel noise, and preliminary testing with new high-output, small spot size D-T neutron generators. We have also demonstrated good results modeling fast-neutron images and scatter effects using MCNP.

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source was oriented at 135° to provide a uniform neutron field. Note the emission angle towards the front of the tube (left side of plot) is kinematically 180° due to the ion acceleration in the tube being from left to right in the plot

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source with a 2 mm spot size

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the US DOE NNSA NA-22, NA-84, and LLNL-LDRD 20-SI-001, and was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344. On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest. Data is available on request.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, 94550, USA

    Phillip Kerr, Nerine Cherepy, Jennifer Church, Gary Guethlein, Jim Hall, Colby McNamee, Sean O’Neal, Kyle Champley, Andy Townsend, Mayuki Sasagawa, Anthony Hardy & Saphon Hok

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  1. Phillip Kerr
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  2. Nerine Cherepy
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  3. Jennifer Church
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  4. Gary Guethlein
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  5. Jim Hall
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  6. Colby McNamee
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  7. Sean O’Neal
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  8. Kyle Champley
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  9. Andy Townsend
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  10. Mayuki Sasagawa
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  11. Anthony Hardy
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  12. Saphon Hok
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Phillip Kerr.

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Kerr, P., Cherepy, N., Church, J. et al. Neutron transmission imaging with a portable D-T neutron generator. Radiat Detect Technol Methods 6, 234–243 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41605-022-00315-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41605-022-00315-7

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