Development of an inertial electrostatic confinement neutron source and its application to neutron imaging

We tested a linear type Inertial Electrostatic Confinement (IEC) neutron source that adopted permanent magnets to enhance ion production rate in the glow-discharge plasma. By introducing magnetic fields locally near the discharge anodes, the neutron production rate (NPR) normalized by background gas pressure increased by a factor of 1.8 and the light emission pattern of the discharge plasma drastically changed. A neutron imaging test was also carried out by using a coaxial cylinder type IEC neutron source. Neutron transmission images were successfully obtained even with a neutron flux of 45 n/s/cm², which coincided well with numerical predictions based on Monte-Carlo simulations. (author)