Development of Land Mine Detector System Based on the Measurements of Capture γ-Rays with Anticoincidence and Coincidence Methods

In this paper, we describe a detector system for finding land mines in the soil using 10.83 and 2.22 MeV capture γ-ray detections by neutron capture reactions with nitrogen and hydrogen, respectively. There are certain difficulties in land mine detection, including high background radiation levels during measurement and a low detection efficiency of high-energy γ-rays. To overcome these difficulties, a methodology involving simultaneous measurements using anticoincidence and coincidence methods and a combination of BGO and NaI(Tl) scintillators is proposed. The background radiation level is suppressed using this methodology and the detection efficiency of high-energy γ-rays is improved. Consequently, it should be possible to detect land mines buried in the soil with a high efficiency.