Development of a High-brightness, Quasi-monoenergetic Neutron Source for Neutron Imaging

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is developing a high-brightness, quasi-monoenergetic neutron source for fast neutron-based imaging. The intensity of the neutron source is expected to be 1010∼11 n/s/sr with energies set at 7 MeV or 10 MeV with 5% bandwidth at 0-degrees. The neutrons are produced by the D(d,n) reaction using one of two accelerators of consisting of 1 or 2 RFQs (depending on the desired energy) and a DTL. Each accelerator will deliver approximately 100- or 300-uA (depending on the energy) average current deuteron beam onto a pulsed deuterium gas target or a solid target, depending on the application. In this paper, we discuss some of our benchmarking measurements and overall progress in preparation to be online in late 2017. We also discuss our performance expectations and broader set of applications.