[en] This paper describes a type of notch filter and demonstrates the advantages of this filter in providing small notch dispersion and other properties necessary for stochastic cooling systems. A comparative evaluation is made of the advantages between the shorted stub filter and the basic correlator filter. Schematic and phasor diagrams of the basic correlator filter are shown. A description of the BCF system is also given

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[en] We present that Los Alamos National Laboratory has developed a prototype of a high-energy neutron time-of-flight imaging system for the non-destructive evaluation of dense, massive, and/or high atomic number objects. High-energy neutrons provide the penetrating power, and thus the high dynamic range necessary to image internal features and defects of such objects. The addition of the time gating capability allows for scatter rejection when paired with a pulsed monoenergetic beam, or neutron energy selection when paired with a pulsed broad-spectrum neutron source. The Time Gating to Reject Scatter and Select Energy (TiGReSSE) system was tested at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center’s (LANSCE) Weapons Nuclear Research (WNR) facility, a spallation neutron source, to provide proof of concept measurements and to characterize the instrument response. This paper will show results of several objects imaged during this run cycle. In addition, results from system performance metrics such as the Modulation Transfer Function and the Detective Quantum Efficiency measured as a function of neutron energy, characterize the current system performance and inform the next generation of neutron imaging instrument.

[en] Low-resolution isotope identifiers are widely deployed for nuclear security purposes, but these detectors currently demonstrate problems in making correct identifications in many typical usage scenarios. While there are many hardware alternatives and improvements that can be made, performance on existing low resolution isotope identifiers should be able to be improved by developing new identification algorithms. We have developed a wavelet-based peak extraction algorithm and an implementation of a Bayesian classifier for automated peak-based identification. The peak extraction algorithm has been extended to compute uncertainties in the peak area calculations. To build empirical joint probability distributions of the peak areas and uncertainties, a large set of spectra were simulated in MCNP6 and processed with the wavelet-based feature extraction algorithm. Kernel density estimation was then used to create a new component of the likelihood function in the Bayesian classifier. Furthermore, identification performance is demonstrated on a variety of real low-resolution spectra, including Category I quantities of special nuclear material.

[en] Cerium doped YAlO3 (YAP:Ce) is an interesting oxide scintillator in that it exhibits a wider range of light yield non-proportionality on a sample-to-sample basis than most other well-known oxide scintillators. In general, most oxide materials, such as BGO and LSO:Ce, are thought to have an intrinsic proportional response that is nearly constant between samples and independent of growth conditions. Since light yield nonproportionality is responsible for degrading the achievable energy resolution of all known scintillators, it is important to understand what contributes to the behavior. In this study, in an attempt to understand if the phenomenon can be affected by growth parameters or by other means, seven samples of YAP:Ce were collected from various sources, and eight samples were grown inhouse using the Czochralski method. Based on optical and scintillation measurement as well as direct measurement of the cerium concentration, it was determined that the light yield proportionality in YAlO3:Ce is strongly related to the cerium concentration. Samples that were found to have a higher relative cerium concentration displayed a more proportional light yield response. In addition, it was determined that samples with a higher cerium concentration also exhibit a faster decay time and an enhanced energy resolution when compared to samples with less cerium. Finally, it was also determined that growth in a reducing atmosphere can effectively suppress a parasitic optical absorption band.

[en] The objective of this work is to increase system sensitivity in cardiac single-photon emission-computed tomography (SPECT) studies without increasing patient imaging time. For imaging the heart, convergent collimation offers the potential of increased sensitivity over that of parallel-hole collimation. However, if a cone-beam collimated gamma camera is rotated in a planar orbit, the projection data obtained are not complete. Two cone-beam collimators and one fan-beam collimator are used with a three-detector SPECT system. The combined cone-beam/fan-beam collimation provides a complete set of data for image reconstruction. The imaging geometry is evaluated using data acquired from phantom and patient studies. For the Jaszazck cardiac torso phantom experiment, the combined cone-beam/fan-beam collimation provided 1.7 times greater sensitivity than standard parallel-hole collimation (low-energy high-resolution collimators). Also, phantom and patient comparison studies showed improved image quality. The combined cone-beam/fan-beam imaging geometry with appropriate weighting of the two data sets provides improved system sensitivity while measuring sufficient data for artifact free cardiac images