Conceptual design of a high-frame-rate fast neutron radiography detector

Abstract

Fast neutron radiography offers means to inspect thick hydrogenous materials because of high penetration depth of fast neutrons. Further more, quasi monoenergetic neutrons is relatively easy to obtain by neutron generators and it is helpful for density inversion of targets, which has many difficulties in flash radiography. In order to investigate dynamic processes, an intense repetitive pulsed neutron source will be used. Efficient detection of fast neutrons is one of the hardest problems for fast neutron imaging detectors. In the system, a scintillating fiber array is employed to obtain a detection efficiency of about 20% for DT neutrons. High-performance ICCDs and large aperture lens are taken into account to increase the conversion efficiency and the collective efficiency. The properties of the detector are charaterized in this paper.