Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance (NQR) for Stand-off Detection of Contraband

Technical Report · Wed Oct 02 20:00:00 EDT 2013

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1095841· OSTI ID:1095841

Espy, Michelle A. ^[1]; Karaulanov, Todor ^[1]; Kim, Young Jin ^[1]; Urbaitis, Algis V. ^[1]; Volegov, Petr L. ^[1]; Yoder, Jacob ^[1]

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1. Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

NQR is based on an interaction between the nuclear quadrupole moment of a spin ≥ 1 nucleus (commonly 14N) and the gradient of the electric field from electrons. This causes energy level splitting similar to NMR but with no requirement of an external field. NQR is highly sensitive to chemical structure. Most explosives and drugs have NQR signals (typically in the 1-6 MHz range), thus it is an excellent candidate for detection of concealed contraband (i.e. IEDs, smuggling) but it does have issues with low SNR and long detection times.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program; USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
• DOE Contract Number: AC52-06NA25396
• OSTI ID: 1095841
• Report Number(s): LA-UR--13-27689
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
Materials Science(36)
Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)