High-Contrast Material Identification by Energetic Multiparticle Spectroscopic Transmission Radiography

Radiography is a powerful imaging technique that has found widespread use in medicine, security, and inspection of industrial processes. The technique is typically performed using either neutrons or photons, but neither of these probes is universally applicable. The authors experimentally realize a significant improvement in the contrast for small elemental variations in an object's composition, by using both neutrons and photons simultaneously in transmission radiography. They present a multiparticle spectroscopic transmission radiography (MPSTR) technique that merges the information obtained from fast-neutron and photon probes produced by deuteron-based nuclear reactions.