Fast-neutron profiling with an imaging plate

A method for taking the fast-neutron profile has been developed using an imaging plate combined with a polypropylene converter. By this method, we can obtain the spatial distribution of fast neutrons without any γ-ray contamination by taking the difference between the data with and without the converter. We have studied properties of this method concerning the neutron energy, converter thickness, fading, dynamic range and spatial resolution. Under appropriate conditions, the method has more than a 102 dynamic range with linearity and less than 1.0 mm spatial resolution for 5 and 15 MeV neutrons. By using this method, we successfully obtained a fast-neutron profile after a collimator and radiography of a 5 cm thick iron block.