A simple neutron microscope using a compound refractive lens

Abstract

Images obtained with a high-magnification simple neutron microscope using a compound refractive lens are presented in this letter. The short focal length of the stack of Al biconcave lenses facilitated the setup of a simple neutron microscope at the D22 small angle scattering beam line at the Institut Laue Langevin, Grenoble, France that achieved a 35× magnification and a 214 μm resolution. Higher-resolution images could be obtained using improved neutron lens systems that enhance beam delivery from neutron sources and produce high-quality images in combination with higher resolution two-dimensional neutron detectors.

Large area x-ray and neutron imaging using three-dimensional arrays of microlenses

“…To make a lens system that gives a shorter focal length and larger size, researchers have constructed and tested compound refractive lenses (CRLs) which consist of a linear array of many simple lenses made of low density material such as Be, Li, Al or Kapton for x rays [9][10][11][12][13][14] and Al and MgF 2 for neutrons. [5][6][7] As shown in Fig. 1(a), a series of thin unit lenses with a common optical axis is used to form a CRL.…”

“…Previously, compound refractive lenses (CRLs) have been shown to be capable of imaging small objects using x rays 1-4 and cold neutrons. [5][6][7] Unfortunately, these lenses have limited fields of view resulting from the limited apertures and length of the CRLs. The use of three-dimensional (3D) arrays of smaller lenses to form larger area images is analogous to the use of planar arrays of microlenses previously used in copy machines, oscilloscope cameras, and other applications.…”

Application of Micro- and Nanobeams for Materials Science

“…Moreover, X-ray microscopes offer a variety of image-contrast mechanisms in 2D and 3D (e.g., absorption, chemical state, phase, diffraction, polarization) to obtain images, zoom into regions of interest, and build up large fields of view. Finally, although it shares most of the advantages with neutron microscopy (Beguiristain et al 2002), this latter potential competitor currently suffers from the lack of sufficiently bright sources.…”

Non-uniform contrast and noise correction for coded source neutron imaging

“…In general, the resolution of scintillator-based detection systems is limited to the 10μm − 15μm range [4], and the relatively low neutron count rate of neutron sources compared to other illumination sources restricts time resolved measurement (e.g., image of a moving object). One path toward improved resolution is the use of magnification; however, to date neutron optics are inefficient, expensive, and difficult to develop [5]. There is a clear demand for costeffective scintillator-based neutron imaging systems that achieve resolutions of 1μm or less.…”