Novel fast neutron counting technology for efficient detection of special nuclear materials

Results from a fully independent thin film process for manufacturing non-lead glass Microchannel plate (MCP) detectors using nano-engineered thin films for both the resistive and emissive layers are presented. These novel MCP devices show high gain, less gain degradation with extracted charge, and greater pore to pore and plate to plate uniformity than has been possible with conventional lead glass structures. Extension of MCP to plastic substrates, for the purpose of fast neutron detection is disclosed and preliminary MCP functionality results are presented. Simulation results, predicting fast neutron detection performance for the plastic MCP device are presented and discussed.