PRODUCTION AND APPLICATIONS OF NEUTRONS USING PARTICLE ACCELERATORS

Advances in neutron science have gone hand in hand with the development of particle accelerators from the beginning of both fields. Early accelerator systems were developed simply to produce neutrons, allowing scientists to study their properties and interactions with matter, but people quickly realized that more tangible uses existed for them. Today, these systems are in use in such diverse applications as mineral assaying, oil well logging, radiography, and explosive detection to name a few. This chapter presents a technical introduction to the different ways particle accelerators are used to produce neutrons, an historical overview of the development of neutron-producing particle accelerators, a description of current industrial accelerator systems, narratives of the industrial fields where neutron-producing particle accelerators are used today, and comments on future trends.