Neutron Imaging Camera

We describe the Neutron Imaging Camera (NIC) being developed for the detection of special nuclear material by NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and NSWC/Carderock. The NIC is a self-contained, robust, omnidirectional, and ³He-independent neutron detector based on the Three-Dimensional Track Imager (3-DTI) technology developed at GSFC for gamma-ray astrophysics applications. The 3-DTI, a large volume, gas, time-projection chamber, provides accurate, ~0.4 mm resolution, 3-D tracking of charged particles. The incident direction of fast neutrons, 0.1 MeV <;E_n <; 10 MeV, are reconstructed from the momenta and energies of the protons resulting from single and double (n, p) scatters in methane (CH₄). We present angular and energy resolution performance of the NIC derived from the field test at Ft. Monroe, VA in September 2010.