Proton radiography

With the nuclear weapons program moving to Science Based Stockpile Stewardship (SBSS), new diagnostic techniques are needed to replace weapons testing. Proton Radiography is being developed within the SBSS program as one such tool. It is analogous to transmission X-ray radiography, but uses protons instead of photons. Proton Radiography has high penetrating power, high detection efficiency, small-scattered background, inherent multi-pulse capability, and large standoff distances between test objects and detectors. Multiple images on a single axis through progressively smaller angle-cutting apertures can provide material identification. Proton Radiography can make multi-axis, multi-frame radiographs: i.e., 3D radiographic movies. This approach to SBSS is being developed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). This new method of radiography, as well as radiography experiments performed at the LANSCE accelerator at LANL and at the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron (AGS) at Brookhaven National Laboratory, are discussed.