Biological imaging with a neutron microscope

Jay Theodore Cremer; Melvin A. Piestrup; Charles K. Gary; Heungsup Park; Richard H. Pantell

doi:10.1117/12.565715

26 October 2004 Biological imaging with a neutron microscope

Jay Theodore Cremer, Melvin A. Piestrup, Charles K. Gary, Heungsup Park, Richard H. Pantell

Proceedings Volume 5541, Penetrating Radiation Systems and Applications VI; (2004) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.565715
Event: Optical Science and Technology, the SPIE 49th Annual Meeting, 2004, Denver, Colorado, United States

Abstract

Two neutron microscope imaging experiments were performed at the Center for Neutron Research, at the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) on the NG-7 30-Meter Small Angle Neutron Scattering Instrument. The NIST neutron source wavelength could be varied from 5 Å to 20 Å, and the neutron bandwidth could be varied. For both microscope experiments the image resolution was 5.0 mm, and was determined and limited by the NG-7 neutron detector’s 5.0 mm pixel size. The image acquisition times were set to 300 sec. In the first experiment the neutron source wavelength was set to 5 Å with an 11% bandwidth. A simple microscope with a 22.6x magnification, employing a compound refractive lens, composed of 201 aluminum (Al) biconcave lenses, was used to image a slit array in Cadmium (Cd) foil, located 139 cm downstream of the source. The Cd slit array consisted of 0.8 mm wide slits separated by 0.8 mm wide slats. The Al CRL had 1.98 mm radius of curvature, a 3.9 mm aperture, and a measured 1.2 cm field of view (FOV). An 85 lens version of this Al CRL had a measured 2.3 cm FOV and 9.4 x magnification, and was used to image at rat paw. The Cd slit array was placed upstream of the aluminum CRL at 74.5 cm object distance. In the second NIST experiment the neutron source wavelength was set to 8.5 Å with a 10% bandwidth. A simple microscope with a 22.5x magnification, employing a compound refractive lens, composed of 100 MgF₂ biconcave lenses, was used to image materials and specimens containing hydrogen, whose main contrast mechanism for neutrons is incoherent scattering. The MgF₂ CRL had a measured 2.4 cm FOV. The hydrogen-rich material imaged was a polypropylene (hydrogen-rich) grid, and the biological specimens were a scorpion, a rat paw, and a plant leaf, and they were situated 122 cm downstream of the source, and 78 cm upstream of the MgF₂ CRL.

Citation Download Citation

Jay Theodore Cremer, Melvin A. Piestrup, Charles K. Gary, Heungsup Park, and Richard H. Pantell "Biological imaging with a neutron microscope", Proc. SPIE 5541, Penetrating Radiation Systems and Applications VI, (26 October 2004); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.565715

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