Active neutron and gamma-ray instrumentation for in situ planetary science applications

Parsons, A.; Bodnarik, J.; Evans, L. G.; Floyd, S. R.; Lim, L. F.; McClanahan, T. P.; Namkung, M.; Nowicki, S.; Schweitzer, Jeffrey S.; Starr, R.; Trombka, J. I.

doi:10.1016/j.nima.2010.09.157

Cited by 38 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…State-of-the-art nuclear physics methodologies and instrumentation, combined with commercial availability of portable pulse neutron generators, high-efficiency gamma detectors, reliable electronics, and measurement and data processing software, have currently made the application of neutron-gamma analysis possible for routine measurements in various fields of study. For these reasons, material analysis using characteristic gamma rays induced by neutrons is more wide-spread today; e.g., threat material detection (explosives, drugs, and dangerous chemicals [1]), diamond detection [2], planetary science applications for obtaining bulk elemental composition information, soil elemental (isotopic) content and density distribution [3], archaeological site surveying and provenance studies [4,5], elemental composition of human [6,7] and animal [8,9] bodies, real-time elemental analysis of bulk coal on conveyor belts [10,11], chloride content of reinforced concrete [12,13], and in oil well logging [14].…”

Section: System Evolution and Applicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neutron-Stimulated Gamma Ray Analysis of Soil

Kavetskiy¹,

Yakubova²,

Torbert³

2017

New Insights on Gamma Rays

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This chapter describes technical aspects of neutron-stimulated gamma ray analysis of soil carbon. The introduction covers general principles, different modifications of neutron-gamma analysis, measurement system configuration, and advantages of this method for soil carbon analysis. Problems with neutron-gamma technology in soil carbon analysis and methods of investigations including Monte-Carlo simulation of neutron interaction with soil elements are discussed further. Based on the investigation results, a method of extracting the "soil carbon net peak" from the raw acquired data was developed. The direct proportional dependency between the carbon net peak area and average carbon weight percent in the upper 10 cm soil layer for any carbon depth profile was shown. Calibration of the measurement system using sand-carbon pits and field measurements of soil carbon are described. Measurement results compared to chemical analysis (dry combustion) data demonstrated good agreement between the two methods. Thus, neutron-stimulated gamma ray analysis can be used for in situ determination of near-surface soil carbon content and is applicable for precision geospatial mapping of soil carbon.

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Section: System Evolution and Applicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neutron-Stimulated Gamma Ray Analysis of Soil

Kavetskiy¹,

Yakubova²,

Torbert³

2017

New Insights on Gamma Rays

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“…Qualitative descriptions of PING results for various layering configurations such as with polyethylene and with the addition of materials such as titanium that are not found in either granite or basalt [1] have shown PING to be a powerful tool for subsurface elemental composition measurement. In this paper, we take the next step and begin the quantitative analysis of the elemental composition of the granite and basalt materials.…”

Section: Ping Experimental Setupmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Probing In situ with Neutrons and Gamma rays (PING) instrument [1] is a promising planetary science application of the active neutron-gamma ray technology that has been used successfully in oil field well logging and mineral exploration on Earth for decades. These techniques can be very powerful for non-invasive in situ measurements of the subsurface elemental composition on other planets.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Subsurface In situ elemental composition measurements with PING

Parsons

McClanahan

Bodnarik

et al. 2013

2013 IEEE Aerospace Conference

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Abstract-This paper describes the Probing In situ with Neutron and Gamma rays (PING) instrument, that can measure the subsurface elemental composition in situ for any rocky body in the solar system without the need for digging into the surface. PING consists of a Pulsed Neutron Generator (PNG), a gamma ray spectrometer and neutron detectors. Subsurface elements are stimulated by high-energy neutrons to emit gamma rays at characteristic energies. This paper will show how the detection of these gamma rays results in a measurement of elemental composition. Examples of the basalt to granite ratios for aluminum and silicon abundance are provided.

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“…The reason for this experiment was to evaluate the SrI 2 ðEu 2þ Þ detector as a possible gamma-ray alternative to the lanthanum bromide doped with cerium [LaBr 3 ðCe 3þ Þ] currently used in the Probing in-situ with Neutrons and Gamma-rays Instrument. 19 An interest in an alternative to LaBr 3 ðCe 3þ Þ comes from the need to have a scintillator without any self-activity. LaBr 3 ðCe 3þ Þ contains self-activity due to the 138 La (Ref.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scintillation properties of strontium iodide doped with europium for high-energy astrophysical detectors: nonproportionality as a function of temperature and at high gamma-ray energies

Perea

Parsons

Groza

et al. 2014

J. Astron. Telesc. Instrum. Syst

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Abstract. Strontium iodide doped with europium [SrI 2 ðEu2þ Þ] is a new scintillator material being developed as an alternative to lanthanum bromide doped with cerium [LaBr 3 ðCe 3þ Þ] for use in high-energy astrophysical detectors. As with all scintillators, the issue of nonproportionality is important because it affects the energy resolution of the detector. We investigate how the nonproportionality of SrI 2 ðEu 2þ Þ changes as a function of temperature from 16 to 60°C by heating the SrI 2 ðEu 2þ Þ scintillator separate from the photomultiplier tube. In a separate experiment, we also investigate the nonproportionality at high energies (up to 6 MeV) of SrI 2 ðEu 2þ Þ at a testing facility located at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. We find that the nonproportionality increases nearly monotonically as the temperature of the SrI 2 ðEu 2þ Þ scintillator is increased, although there is evidence of nonmonotonic behavior near 40°C, perhaps due to electric charge carriers trapping in the material. We also find that within the energy range of 662 keV to 6.1 MeV, the change in the nonproportionality of SrI 2 ðEu 2þ Þ is ∼1.5 to 2%. © The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI.

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Active neutron and gamma-ray instrumentation for in situ planetary science applications

Cited by 38 publications

References 3 publications

Neutron-Stimulated Gamma Ray Analysis of Soil

Neutron-Stimulated Gamma Ray Analysis of Soil

Subsurface In situ elemental composition measurements with PING

Scintillation properties of strontium iodide doped with europium for high-energy astrophysical detectors: nonproportionality as a function of temperature and at high gamma-ray energies

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