Methods and systems for time-of-flight neutron interrogation for material discrimination

摘要

The present invention provides a Time-of-Flight based neutron inspection system. The system employs a collimated beam of fast neutrons for targeted interrogation of suspect areas in cargo. Elemental composition is determined as a function of depth. Analysis is then used to determine the presence of contraband. The system may be used for secondary inspection for material discrimination to reduce false alarm rate and high cost and time associated with manual unpacking.

主权项

1. A system for inspecting a suspect area in an object, comprising:
a nano-second pulsed deuteron generator configured to generate at least 109 neutrons/second, said nano-second pulsed deuteron generator comprising an ion source to produce a pulsed beam of deuterium ions and an ion filter, chopper and buncher for shaping the pulsed beam of deuterium ions into a narrow pulse width; a tritium target, which produces pulsed neutrons upon being impinged by the pulsed beam of deuterium ions and wherein a current of the pulsed beam of deuteron ions impinging on the tritium target is in the range of 100 μA; a movable collimator configured to generate a collimated beam of pulsed neutrons and aim the pulsed neutrons at the suspect area; gamma ray detectors to detect gamma rays produced after an interaction of pulsed neutrons with the suspect area; and a processing unit that analyzes time-of flight (ToF) data from the gamma ray detectors to determine identities of materials in the suspect area.