Muon Tomography at Los Alamos (IMAGE)
Caption
Los Alamos National Laboratory postdoctoral researcher Elena Guardincerri, right, and undergraduate research assistant Shelby Fellows prepare a lead hemisphere inside a muon tomography machine, which can peer inside closed containers and provide detailed images of dense objects such as nuclear materials or other items of interest. The detector, developed at Los Alamos, uses muons -- tiny particles generated when cosmic rays interact with Earth's atmosphere -- to do its work, providing a simple, passive system that can be used to thwart nuclear smugglers or look inside the cores of damaged nuclear reactors, such as those at Fukushima Daiichi in Japan. The long tubes above the researchers record incoming muons, while a similar array below the target detects the muons as they penetrate the detector area. Using sophisticated computer software, researchers can determine the type of material penetrated by the naturally-occurring muon shower as well as other information.
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Los Alamos National Laboratory photo
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