Head of Press and Information Office
Dr. Dr. Jens Simon
Phone: +49 531 592-3005
Email:
jens.simon(at)ptb.de
ACCIS is a binational joint research programme which is supported by BMBF and aims to investigate a screening system based on neutron- and gamma-radiation for medium-sized freight units (e.g. air cargo containers). Altogether, 7 German, 3 Israeli and 1 South-African partners from research, industry and the police are involved in the project. Besides coordinating the work of the German partners, PTB’s contribution focuses on developing the imaging systems and providing the testing infrastructure. In addition, PTB takes part in the activities aimed at generating intensive pulsed neutron- and gamma-radiation as well as in research dealing with the estimation of the applicability and marketability of such a system in the public domain.
In the period under report in which the "milestone" was due, the sub-projects mentioned below were completed or significant intermediate results were obtained.
One of the important goals of the milestone was to set up and characterize two different detection systems for simultaneous neutron- and gamma-radiography. These two systems, which are based on different optical technologies and are known under the acronyms "TRECOR" and "TRIOR", are nearly completed. Due to delays in the supply of a component for TRIOR, it was agreed with the funding agency that for the remaining project period, the work would be focused on the second system, TRECOR. TRECOR is based on organic scintillators for radiation conversion and on a special electro-optical read-out system which was developed in the working group, in collaboration with one of the project partners. This system is capable of detecting the impact position of fast neutrons and gamma quanta in the converter screen with a rate of currently up to approx. 1 MHz. Applying the Time-of-Flight technique, it measures the neutron energy and provides an estimate of the gamma energy via the measurement of the scintillation light in the converter screen. A schematic representation and detailed photos of the TRECOR imaging system are shown in Fig. 1.
Figure 1 : Schematic drawing of the set-up of the TRECOR imaging system (top) and detailed photos of the assembled module (bottom).
Figure 2 : Schematic representation of the low-energy ion transport and pulsing system for the RFQ linac.
All in all, the total project as well as PTB’s sub-project (apart from the task related to the TRIOR concept) is as scheduled. In the coming months (the project is currently planned to end in July 2013), work will focus on clarifying the reasons for the insufficient data for element re-construction with TRECOR; later, the experimental facility at PTB will be re-assessed, and the pulsed ion injection for the RFQ linac will be set up and optimized.
Dr. Dr. Jens Simon
Phone: +49 531 592-3005
Email:
jens.simon(at)ptb.de
Karin Conring
Phone: +49 531 592-3006
Fax: +49 531 592-3008
Email:
karin.conring(at)ptb.de
Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt
Bundesallee 100
38116 Braunschweig