Neutron Imaging Using a Fine-Grained Nuclear Emulsion

A neutron detector using a fine-grained nuclear emulsion has a sub-micron spatial resolution and thus has potential to be applied as high-resolution neutron imaging. In this paper, we present two approaches to applying the emulsion detectors for neutron imaging. One is using a track analysis to derive the reaction points for high resolution. From an image obtained with a 9 μm pitch Gd grating with cold neutrons, periodic peak with a standard deviation of 1.3 μm was observed. The other is an approach without a track analysis for high-density irradiation. An internal structure of a crystal oscillator chip, with a scale of approximately 30 μm, was able to be observed after an image analysis.

[1]  H. Shimizu,et al.  A cold/ultracold neutron detector using fine-grained nuclear emulsion with spatial resolution less than 100 nm , 2018, The European Physical Journal C.

[2]  M. Yoshimoto,et al.  The development of super fine-grained nuclear emulsion , 2017, 1705.05014.

[3]  P. Trtik,et al.  Progress in High-resolution Neutron Imaging at the Paul Scherrer Institut - The Neutron Microscope Project , 2016 .

[4]  N. Yamada,et al.  The ion beam sputtering facility at KURRI: Coatings for advanced neutron optical devices , 2015 .

[5]  A. Lauria,et al.  Intrinsic neutron background of nuclear emulsions for directional Dark Matter searches , 2015, 1507.03532.

[6]  D. Comparat,et al.  A moiré deflectometer for antimatter , 2014, Nature Communications.

[7]  T. Nakano,et al.  Fine grained nuclear emulsion for higher resolution tracking detector , 2013 .

[8]  Jason McPhate,et al.  High‐Resolution Strain Mapping Through Time‐of‐Flight Neutron Transmission Diffraction with a Microchannel Plate Neutron Counting Detector , 2012 .

[9]  K. Nakazawa Double-Λ Hypernuclei via the Ξ− Hyperon Capture at Rest Reaction in a Hybrid Emulsion , 2010 .

[10]  Hiromi Sato,et al.  Design of neutron beamline for fundamental physics at J-PARC BL05 , 2009 .

[11]  R. Schwienhorst,et al.  Final tau-neutrino results from the DONuT experiment , 2007, 0711.0728.

[12]  Eberhard Lehmann,et al.  Energy-selective neutron transmission imaging at a pulsed source , 2007 .

[13]  Donut Collaboration Observation of Tau Neutrino Interactions , 2000, hep-ex/0012035.

[14]  I. G. Park,et al.  Quasifree p(K−, K+)Ξ− reaction in nuclear emulsion , 1998 .

[15]  K. Mardia Statistics of Directional Data , 1972 .

[16]  P. Trtik,et al.  PSI ‘Neutron Microscope’ at ILL-D50 Beamline - First Results , 2020 .

[17]  A. Momose,et al.  Experimental Evaluation of Neutron Absorption Grating Fabricated by Oblique Evaporation of Gadolinium for Phase Imaging , 2017 .

[18]  H. Shimizu,et al.  A Neutron Detector with Submicron Spatial Resolution using Fine-grained Nuclear Emulsion , 2017 .

[19]  K. Mishima J-PARC Neutron Beam Line (BL05/NOP) for Fundamental Physics , 2015 .

[20]  M. Kando,et al.  Using LiF crystals for high-performance neutron imaging with micron-scale resolution , 2015, High Power Laser Science and Engineering.