Low Cost Long Distance Detector for Explosives and Chemical Analysis by IEC Application

Abstract

A radiation source for detecting specific chemicals at several meter distances even behind walls, car doors or other barriers is the application of Million electron Volts (MeV) neutrons from nuclear fusion reactions at such low intensities to avoid any danger for human bodies. The chemical analysis consists in the neutron activation of nuclei emitting then gamma radiation of lines very specific for the excited nuclei. The neutron generation by the Inertial Electrostatic Confinement (IEC) had been developed to a level where very low cost neutron generators in mass production may be developed with a power supply from a normal AC plug-in or a battery. For specific chemicals e.g. the ratio of nitrogen against other elements used in all explosives, the selection of few specific gamma lines for the detectors may be of sufficiently low cost in the case of mass production.