A HIGH RESOLUTION POSITION SENSITIVE DETECTOR

THERE IS A CURRENT NEED TO REMOTELY AND NONDESTRUCTIVELY IDENTIFY NUCLEAR SOURCES WITHIN STRUCTURES (OBJECTS) THAT ARE OPAQUE TO ALL BUT NUCLEAR RADIATION. SITUATIONAL EXAMPLES ARE THE IDENTIFICATION OF NUCLEAR SPACE MINES IN THE VICINITY OF BALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENSE SATELLITES AND NUCLEAR WEAPONS TREATY VERIFICATION. IF THE SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL WITHIN THE STRUCTURE CAN BE IMAGED THEN, TOGETHER WITH GAMMA-RAY SPECTRAL INFORMATION, THE FUNCTION OF THE NUCLEAR MATERIAL CAN BE DERIVED. NUCLEAR WEAPONS HAVE VERY DEFINITE NUCLEAR MATERIAL CONFIGURATIONS. SPATIAL RESOLUTION IS A PIVOTAL IMAGING SENSOR ISSUE. NUCLEAR MATERIAL FUNCTION IDENTIFICATION REQUIRES A RESOLUTION OF ROUGHLY 2 CM WHICH IS BEYOND THE CAPABILITY OF CURRENT SENSORS, FOR ANY PRACTICAL OBJECT-SENSOR DISTANCE. THE SENSOR PROPOSED HEREIN SOLVES THE HIGH RESOLUTION PROBLEM. THIS IS A PROPOSAL FOR A NOVEL, HIGH SPATIAL RESOLUTION, GAMMA-RAY SENSOR FOR IDENTIFICATION OF NUCLEAR MATERIAL CONFIGURATIONS. THE SENSOR IS CALLED THE HIGH RESOLUTION GAMMA-RAY CAMERA (HRCAM). THE FOCUS OF THE PROPOSAL IS ON THE HIGH RESOLUTION POSITION SENSITIVE GAMMA-RAY DETECTOR INTERNAL TO THE HRCAM. OPTIC FABRICATION TECHNOLOGY IS BEING INVESTIGATED TO ACCOMPLISH THE MISSION OF HIT CONFIRMATION FOR THE INTERACTIVE DISCRIMINATION PROGRAM. THIS DETECTOR CHAIN WOULD DETECT, WITH ENHANCED BACKGROUND SUPPRESSION, A SIGNAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SURFACE OF OBJECTS INTERROGATED WITH A NEUTRAL PARTICAL BEAM. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS INCLUDE RAPID AND RELIABLE CONFIRMATION THAT THE PROBE BEAM INTERCEPTED A REENTRY VEHICLE OR DECOY. FEASIBILITY IS BEING DETERMINED BY THE CALCULATIONAL DESIGN OF THE DETECTOR CHAIN AND DEMONSTRATION OF A FAVORABLE SIGNAL TO NOISE RATIO, FABRICATION OF A PROTOTYPE SENSOR, AND EXPERIMENTAL EVALUATION OF THE SENSOR CONCEPT. A KEY TECHNICAL RISK ISSUE BEING RESOLVED IN THIS STUDY IS THE QUALITY OF THIN SCINTILLATOR FILMS GROWN BY CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION. AT A LATER STUDY, A BRASS BOARD DETECTOR WILL BE FABRICATED AND FIELD TESTED AT NEUTRAL PARTICLE BEAM TEST BEDS TO DETERMINE THE PERFORMANCE OF THE DEVELOPED SYSTEM. A SUCCESSFUL PROJECT WOULD PROVIDE A COST EFFECTIVE MEANS OF OBTAINING HIT CONFIRMATION AND SIMPLIFY THE TECHNICAL RISK ASSOCIATED WITH MID-COURSE INTERACTIVE DISCRIMINATION. THE TECHNOLOGY FOR THE FABRICATION OF UNIFORM THIN SCINTILLATORS COULD BE EXPLOITED FOR MANY IMAGE INTENSIFIER APPLICATIONS.