Abstract
As a fundamental particle, the neutron has many unique attributes that provide a variety of contrast mechanisms enabling many imaging techniques that will be discussed throughout this book. This chapter introduces the neutron with a short summary of its discovery and continues with a presentation of its fundamental properties. A physical picture of the attenuation of a primary beam of particles and the mathematical formulae that govern that attenuation are presented. This chapter concludes with a discussion of neutron interactions with matter that provide the physical basis underlying neutron imaging.
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Herwig, K.W. (2009). Introduction to the Neutron. In: Bilheux, H., McGreevy, R., Anderson, I. (eds) Neutron Imaging and Applications. Neutron Scattering Applications and Techniques. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-78693-3_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-78693-3_1
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