A Novel Portable Ferroelectric Source of Fast MeV Neutrons for Homeland Security Applications

摘要

Utilization of a double crystal system in the regime of electric breakdown leads to increase both effective current and voltage of deuterons upon ferroelectric transition to spontaneously polarized state in DKDP. In contrast to the recently announce solid state neutron generator reported in, this source can generate a significant neutron flux (up to 10~6 n/s) for practical applications, even without contamination of DKDP crystals or gas atmosphere with radioactive tritium in order to increase neutron yield. Such monoenergetic tabletop neutron source with moderate neutron yield could be successfully used for homeland security purposes, including explosive detection. Advantages include the very compact small size and elimination of a massive power supply, making this truly a portable source. Lifetime testing under realistic conditions is need, however, to fully evaluate its capabilities.