High-energy and thermal-neutron imaging and modeling with an amorphous silicon flat-panel detector

The Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE) operates two spallation neutron sources dedicated to research in materials science, condensed-matter physics, and fundamental and applied nuclear physics. Prior to 1995, all thermal neutron radiography at Los Alamos was done on a beam port attached to the Omega West reactor, a small 8 MW research reactor used primarily for radioisotope production and prompt and delayed neutron activation analysis. After the closure of this facility, two largely independent radiography development efforts were begun at LANSCE using moderated cold and thermal neutrons from the Target-1 source and high-energy neutrons from the Target-4 source. Investigations with cold and thermal neutrons employed a neutron converter and film, a scintillation screen and CCD camera system, and a new high-resolution amorphous silicon (a-Si) flat-panel detector system. Recent work with high-energy neutrons (En>1 MeV) has involved storage-phosphor image plates. Some comparison high-energy images were obtained with both image plates and the a-Si panel and showed equivalent image quality for approximately equal exposure times.