Citation:
M. Adams, N. Amato, M. Allmaras, W. Bangerth, S. Chirayath, J-L Guermond, G. Kanschat, P. Kuchment, J. Morel, J. Ragusa, L. Rauchwerger, J. Webster, “Detecting Small Low Emission Radiating Sources”, Poster presented at The 4th annual Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) Academic Research Initiative (ARI) Grantees Conference, Alexandria, Virginia, April 26-28, 2011.
Abstract:
Illicit radiating sources in cargo containers, cars, or other objects that cross the border can be well described as mall point-like sources whose intrinsic radiance is often less, sometimes much less, than the background radiation level. Traditional detectors therefore have difficulties finding these sources, but we can ask what characteristics detectors have to be able to identify from such sources. We discuss how the addition of some angular sensitivity-for example in the form of Compton camera information-together with the assumption of small sources can make detection of sources highly likely, even if the background radiation is orders of magnitude stronger than the radiation emitted by the source.