Neutron and gamma-ray detection system

Abstract

The present invention is a radially symmetric imaging detector that measures an incident neutron's or gamma-ray's energy and identifies its source on an event-by-event basis.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] The present application claims the benefit of provisional patent application Ser. No. 60 / 713,104 filed Aug. 31, 2005, which is incorporated herein by reference.GOVERNMENT SPONSORSHIP [0002] The development of the present invention was funded in part by the DoE of the United States Government under Contract No. DE-FG52-04NA25687 and by the NASA of the United States Government under Contract No. NAG5-13519.TECHNICAL FIELD [0003] The present invention relates to a system for neutron and gamma-ray detection. More specifically, it relates to a radially symmetric imaging detector that directly measures the incident radiation. BACKGROUND INFORMATION [0004] Because they are electrically neutral, neutrons and gamma-rays have been traditionally detected using indirect means. However, typical indirect techniques of the prior art, for neutrons, for example, while able to measure count rate, provide little, if any, information on the neutron's energ...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

However, typical indirect techniques of the prior art, for neutrons, for example, while able to measure count rate, provide little, if any, information on the neutron's energy or the location of the neutron's source.

This lack of information limits the usefulness of prior art detectors in a number of applications, including the detection of special nuclear material (SNM).

Therefore, a flat-surface detector has a time-dependent sensitivity to solar events, which is undesirable when detecting time-varying neutron or gamma-ray fluxes, such as the ones from solar flares.

However, the detector therein is based on count rate rather than measurement of individual neutrons and, as a result, provides no information on neutron energy and no means to identify gamma-rays.

With respect to the coordinate system in FIG. 1, the detector of the prior art can determine the azimuthal angle φ of the neutron source (with relatively poor accuracy, Δφ˜30°−45°), but is unable to measure the zenith angle θ, making it impossible to locate point sources.

Images