High-Energy Neutron Imaging Development at LLNL

We are proceeding with the development of a high-energy (10 MeV) neutron imaging system for use as an inspection tool in nuclear stockpile stewardship applications. Our goal is to develop and deploy an imaging system capable of detecting cubic-mm-scale voids, cracks or other significant structural defects in heavily-shielded low-Z materials within nuclear device components. The final production-line system will be relatively compact (suitable for use in existing or proposed facilities within the DOE complex) and capable of acquiring both radiographic and tomographic (CT) images. In this report, we will review our programmatic accomplishments to date, highlighting recent (FY06) progress on engineering and technology development issues related to the proposed imaging system. We will also discuss our preliminary project plan for FY07, including engineering initiatives, proposed radiation damage experiments (neutrons and x rays) and potential options for conducting classified neutron imaging experiments at LLNL

Design and Simulation of a Rotating Aperture & Vacuum System for Neutron Imaging

The development of a high-energy (10Mev) neutron imaging system at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) depends on a precision engineered rotating aperture and vacuum system for generating neutrons that are used for imaging dense objects. This subsystem is part of a larger system which includes a linear accelerator that creates a deuteron beam, a scintillator detector, imaging optics and a high resolution CCD camera. The rotating aperture vacuum system has been successfully simulated and tested. Results show the feasibility of the design and point toward ways to improve the design by minimizing the rotating aperture gap

Resolution of a High Performance Cavity Beam Positron Monitor System

International Linear Collider (ILC) interaction region beam sizes and component position stability requirements will be as small as a few nanometers. It is important to the ILC design effort to demonstrate that these tolerances can be achieved--ideally using beam-based stability measurements. It has been estimated that RF cavity beam position monitors (BPMs) could provide position measurement resolutions of less than one nanometer and could form the basis of the desired beam-based stability measurement. We have developed a high resolution RF cavity BPM system. A triplet of these BPMs has been installed in the extraction line of the KEK Accelerator Test Facility (ATF) for testing with its ultra-low emittance beam. A metrology system for the three BPMs was recently installed. This system employed optical encoders to measure each BPM's position and orientation relative to a zero-coefficient of thermal expansion carbon fiber frame and has demonstrated that the three BPMs behave as a rigid-body to less than 5 nm. To date, we have demonstrated a BPM resolution of less than 20 nm over a dynamic range of +/- 20 microns

Performance of a Nanometer Resolution Bpm System

International Linear Collider (ILC) interaction region beam sizes and component position stability requirements will be as small as a few nanometers. It is important to the ILC design effort to demonstrate that these tolerances can be achieved--ideally using beam-based stability measurements. It has been estimated that RF cavity beam position monitors (BPMs) could provide position measurement resolutions of less than one nanometer and could form the basis of the desired beam-based stability measurement. We have developed a high resolution RF cavity BPM system. A triplet of these BPMs has been installed in the extraction line of the KEK Accelerator Test Facility (ATF) for testing with its ultra-low emittance beam. The three BPMs are rigidly mounted inside an alignment frame on variable-length struts which allow movement in position and angle. We have developed novel methods for extracting the position and tilt information from the BPM signals including a calibration algorithm which is immune to beam jitter. To date, we have been able to demonstrate a resolution of approximately 20 nm over a dynamic range of +/- 20 microns. We report on the progress of these ongoing tests

Performance of a Nanometer Resolution BPM System

International Linear Collider (ILC) interaction region beam sizes and component position stability requirements will be as small as a few nanometers. It is important to the ILC design effort to demonstrate that these tolerances can be achieved ideally using beam-based stability measurements. It has been estimated that RF cavity beam position monitors (BPMs) could provide position measurement resolutions of less than one nanometer and could form the basis of the desired beam-based stability measurement. We have developed a high resolution RF cavity BPM system. A triplet of these BPMs has been installed in the extraction line of the KEK Accelerator Test Facility (ATF) for testing with its ultra-low emittance beam. The three BPMs are rigidly mounted inside an alignment frame on variable-length struts which allow movement in position and angle. We have developed novel methods for extracting the position and tilt information from the BPM signals including a calibration algorithm which is immune to beam jitter. To date, we have been able to demonstrate a resolution of approximately 20 nm over a dynamic range of +/- 20 microns. We report on the progress of these ongoing tests

High-Energy Neutron Imaging at LLNL

LLNL is currently engaged in the development of high-energy (10 MeV) neutron imaging technology to complement existing x-ray diagnostic tools in U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) nondestructive evaluation (NDE) applications. Our goal is to develop and deploy a nonintrusive imaging system capable of detecting cubic-mm-scale voids, cracks or other significant structural defects in heavily-shielded low-Z materials within very thick objects. The final production-line system that we envision will be relatively compact (suitable for use in existing facilities within the DOE complex) and capable of acquiring both radiographic and tomographic (CT) images. In this paper, the design status of the high-intensity, accelerator-driven neutron source and large-format imaging detector associated with the system will be discussed and results from one recent neutron imaging experiment conducted at the Ohio University Accelerator Laboratory (OUAL) in Athens, OH will be presented