Miniaturized High Energy X-ray Source for Mobile Non-Intrusive Inspection Systems

Mobile Non-Intrusive Inspection (NII) systems are advantageous as they can be deployed to where the greatest need exists, and they generally have small footprints, which is necessary in many locations. However the currently deployed mobile NII systems do not offer effective material discrimination, which is critical for shielded radiological/nuclear threat identification. This is because the current generation of high-energy interlaced 6/9 MeV X-ray sources needed for good material discrimination are too large and heavy to fit into a compact mobile system. In this project, RadiaBeam will develop an X-ray source that meets the small size and weight required for a mobile scanner yet can provide the imaging performance required to detect shielded threats. We will design a dual-energy, 6/9 MeV linac that, combined with all support infrastructure (electronics, cooling, shielding), will be half the weight and volume of the dual energy linacs on the market today. The X-ray source will find immediate application in the cargo scanning market.