Detection of Explosives by Using a Neutron Source Based on a Proton Linac

Abstract

The paper considers an opportunity of detecting explosives by using radiation capture of a neutron with nitrogen nucleus. Proton LINAC is offered as the neutron source with the following parameters: proton energy five Mega electron Volts , beam pulse current one and seven-tenths milliampere, duration of the current pulse two hundreds microseconds, repetition rate fifty Hertz. The reaction in which neutrons are formed is lithium (p,n) beryllium. It is shown that this neutron source will have the intensity of ten to the twelfth degree neutron per second that will allow one to detect explosives of the size of a tennis ball.