Single-Photon-Emission Computed Tomography with Neutron Activation for Material Inspection

Taewoong Lee, Minho Kim, Younghak Kim, Kyeong Min Kim, Wonho Lee

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

A single-photon-emission computed tomography (SPECT) system with a lanthanum-bromide (LaBr3:Ce) scintillator was proposed and simulated to detect neutron-activated prompt γ-rays from suspicious materials. The optimized parameters of the SPECT system were calculated to achieve the best performance. Under the optimized conditions, energy spectra, spatial images, and elemental ratios were obtained and employed to identify hidden materials. The carbon-to-oxygen ratios of the materials calculated through the simulations were consistent with the corresponding theoretical values while the calculated nitrogen-to-oxygen ratios were slightly different from the corresponding theoretical values. In the proposed system, not only the energy spectrum of each element but also the characteristic intensity ratios obtained using the reconstructed images were used to identify the unknown elements of hidden materials in the three-dimensional spatial domain. These results demonstrate the feasibility of using the SPECT system in field applications.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)877-882
Number of pages6
JournalJournal of the Korean Physical Society
Volume73
Issue number7
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2018 Oct 1

Keywords

  • Characteristic elemental intensity ratio
  • Neutron-activated prompt γ-rays
  • Single-photon-emission computed tomography

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Physics and Astronomy(all)

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