Neutron detection provides an effective method to detect, locate, and characterize sources of interest to nuclear security applications. Current neutron imaging systems based on double-scatter kinematic reconstruction provide good signal vs. background discrimination and spectral capability, but suffer from poor sensitivity due to geometrical constraints. This weakness can be overcome if both neutron-proton scattering interactions are detected and resolved within one large contiguous active detector volume. We describe here a maximum likelihood approach to event reconstruction in a single-volume system with no optical segmentation and sensitivity to individual optical photons on the surfaces of the scintillator. We present results from a Geant4-based simulation establishing the feasibility of this single-volume neutron scatter camera concept given notional performance of existing photodetector and readout technologies.
@article{arxiv.1802.05261,
title = {Single-Volume Neutron Scatter Camera for High-Efficiency Neutron Imaging and Spectroscopy},
author = {Joshua Braverman and James Brennan and Erik Brubaker and Belkis Cabrera-Palmer and Steven Czyz and Peter Marleau and John Mattingly and Aaron Nowack and John Steele and Melinda Sweany and Kyle Weinfurther and Eli Woods},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1802.05261},
year = {2018}
}