Handheld Lobster Eye X-Ray Inspection Device

The war against terrorism requires the capability to inspect cargo through the walls of ship and boat compartments. For this purpose, the U.S. Coast Guard is seeking a handheld instrument that can accurately analyze and visualize material hidden from view behind walls and bulkheads. This inspection device must not endanger Coast Guard personnel or hidden illegal migrants, must be simple to operate, and must minimize disruption of commercial and private property. In response to this need, Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to develop a new handheld monolithic Lobster Eye X-ray Inspection Device (LEXID) for real-time, through-wall high-resolution Compton backscatter X-ray inspection over an entire 2D field-of-view. LEXID¿s true focusing X-ray optics simultaneously focus and acquire ballistic Compton backscattering photons from an entire large scene, irradiated by a wide cone beam from a miniature X-ray source. In Phase I, POC will design and develop a preliminary LEXID to demonstrate the feasibility of the concept. In Phase II, a preproduction LEXID will be fabricated and tested. The immediate application of LEXID is detection by USCG personnel of illegal cargo, migrants, and other contraband aboard ships and boats.