Microchannel plate special nuclear materials sensor

Abstract Nova Scientific Inc., is developing for the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO SBIR #HSHQDC-08-C-00190), a solid-state, high-efficiency neutron detection alternative to 3 He gas tubes, using neutron-sensitive microchannel plates (MCPs) containing 10 B and/or Gd. This work directly supports DNDO development of technologies designed to detect and interdict nuclear weapons or illicit nuclear materials. Neutron-sensitized MCPs have been shown theoretically and more recently experimentally, to be capable of thermal neutron detection efficiencies equivalent to 3 He gas tubes. Although typical solid-state neutron detectors typically have an intrinsic gamma sensitivity orders of magnitude higher than that of 3 He gas detectors, we dramatically reduce gamma sensitivity by combining a novel electronic coincidence rejection scheme, employing a separate but enveloping gamma scintillator. This has already resulted in a measured gamma rejection ratio equal to a small 3 He tube, without in principle sacrificing neutron detection efficiency. Ongoing improvements to the MCP performance as well as the coincidence counting geometry will be described. Repeated testing and validation with a 252 Cf source has been underway throughout the Phase II SBIR program, with ongoing comparisons to a small commercial 3 He gas tube. Finally, further component improvements and efforts toward integration maturity are underway, with the goal of establishing functional prototypes for SNM field testing.