A novel 4D resolution imaging method for low and medium atomic number objects at the centimeter scale by coincidence detection technique of cosmic-ray muon and its secondary particles

The muon radiography imaging technique for high-atomic-number objects(Z)and large-volume objects via muon transmission imaging and muon multiple scattering imaging remains a popular topic in the field of radiation detection imaging.However,few imaging studies have been reported on low and medium Z objects at the centimeter scale.This paper presents an imaging system that consists of three layers of a position-sensitive detector and four plastic scintillation detectors.It acquires data by coincidence detection technique of cosmic-ray muon and its secondary particles.A 3D imaging algorithm based on the density of the coinciding muon trajectory was developed,and 4D imaging that takes the atomic number dimension into account by considering the secondary particle ratio information was achieved.The resultant reconstructed 3D images could distinguish between a series of cubes with 5-mm-side lengths and 2-mm-intervals.If the imaging time is more than 20 days,this method can distinguish intervals with a width of 1 mm.The 4D images can specify target objects with low,medium,and high Z values.

Hybrid model for muon tomography and quantitative analysis of image quality

Muon tomography is a novel method for the non-destructive imaging of materials based on muon rays,which are highly penetrating in natural background radiation.Currently,the most commonly used imaging methods include muon radiography and muon tomography.A previously studied method known as coinciding muon trajectory density tomography,which utilizes muonic secondary particles,is proposed to image low and medium atomic number(Z)materials.However,scattering tomography is mostly used to image high-Z materials,and coinciding muon trajectory density tomography exhibits a hollow phenomenon in the imaging results owing to the self-absorption effect.To address the shortcomings of the individual imaging methods,hybrid model tomography combining scattering tomography and coinciding muon trajectory density tomography is proposed and verified.In addition,the peak signal-to-noise ratio was introduced to quantitatively analyze the image quality.Different imaging models were simulated using the Geant4 toolkit to confirm the advantages of this innovative method.The simulation results showed that hybrid model tomography can image centimeter-scale materials with low,medium,and high Z simultaneously.For high-Z materials with similar atomic numbers,this method can clearly distinguish those with apparent differences in density.According to the peak signal-to-noise ratio of the analysis,the reconstructed image quality of the new method was significantly higher than that of the individual imaging methods.This study provides a reliable approach to the compatibility of scattering tomography and coinciding muon trajectory density tomography.