We are investigating scintillator performance in radiographic imaging systems at x-ray endpoint energies of 0.4 and 2.3 MeV in single-pulse x-ray machines. The effect of scene magnification and geometric setup will be examined along with differences between the detector response of radiation and optical scatter. Previous discussion has reviewed energy absorption and efficiency of various imaging scintillators with a 2.3 MeV x-ray source. The focal point of our study is to characterize scintillator blur to refine system models. Typical detector geometries utilize thin tiled LYSO:Ce (cerium-doped lutetium yttrium orthosilicate) assembled in a composite mosaic. Properties of individual tiles are being studied to understand system resolution effects present in the experimental setup. Comparison of two different experiments with different geometric configurations is examined. Results are then compared to different scene magnifications generated in a Monte-Carlo simulation.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the best method for non-invasive imaging of soft tissue anatomy, saving countless lives each year. But conventional MRI relies on very high fixed strength magnetic fields, ≥ 1.5 T, with parts-permillion homogeneity, requiring large and expensive magnets. This is because in conventional Faraday-coil based systems the signal scales approximately with the square of the magnetic field. Recent demonstrations have shown that MRI can be performed at much lower magnetic fields (~100 μT, the ULF regime). Through the use of pulsed prepolarization at magnetic fields from ~10-100 mT and SQUID detection during readout (proton Larmor frequencies on the order of a few kHz), some of the signal loss can be mitigated. Our group and others have shown promising applications of ULF MRI of human anatomy including the brain, enhanced contrast between tissues, and imaging in the presence of (and even through) metal. Although much of the required core technology has been demonstrated, ULF MRI systems still suffer from long imaging times, relatively poor quality images, and remain confined to the R&D laboratory due to the strict requirements for a low noise environment isolated from almost all ambient electromagnetic fields. Our goal in the work presented here is to move ULF MRI from a proof-of-concept in our laboratory to a functional prototype that will exploit the inherent advantages of the approach, and enable increased accessibility. Here we present results from a seven-channel SQUID-based system that achieves pre-polarization field of 100 mT over a 200 cm3 volume, is powered with all magnetic field generation from standard MRI amplifier technology, and uses off the shelf data acquisition. As our ultimate aim is unshielded operation, we also demonstrated a seven-channel system that performs ULF MRI outside of heavy magnetically-shielded enclosure. In this paper we present preliminary images and compare them to a model, and characterize the present and expected performance of this system.

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are widely used techniques across numerous disciplines. While typically implemented at fields >1T, there has been continuous interest in the methods at much lower fields for reasons of cost, material contrast, or application. There have been numerous demonstrations of MR at much lower fields (from 1μT to 1mT), the so-called ultra-low field (ULF) regime. Approaches to ULF MR have included superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) sensor technology for ultra-sensitive detection and the use of pulsed pre-polarizing fields to enhance the signal strength. There are many advantages to working in the ULF regime. However, due to the low strength of the measurement field, acquisition of MRI at ULF is more susceptible to ambient fields that cause image distortions. Imaging artifacts can be caused by transients associated with non-ideal field switching and from remnant fields in magnetic shielding, among other causes. In this paper, we introduce a general theoretical framework that describes effects of non-ideal measurement field inversion/rotation due to presence of these transient fields. We illustrate imaging artifacts via simulated and experimental examples.

Nuclear magnetic resonance and x-ray imaging combine to offer a powerful tool for identifying liquids in sealed containers.

Ultra-low field (ULF) MRI as an alternative to high field MRI can find some niche applications where high field is a liability. Previously we demonstrated hand images with a non-cryogenic ULF MRI system, but such a system was restrictive to the size of the imaging objects. We have modified the previous setup to increase the imaging volume and demonstrate the image of human hand near the wrist area. One goal for the demonstration is the evaluation of quality of larger bone structure to project image quality to other parts of extremities, such as elbows, shoulders, and knees. We found that after 12 min of acquisition, the image quality was quite satisfactory. To achieve this image quality, several problems were solved that appeared in the new system. The increase in the imaging volume size led to an increase in transient time and various measures were taken to reduce this time. We also explored a method of overcoming the artifacts and image quality reduction arising from field drifts present in the system due to heating of the coils. We believe that our results can be useful for evaluation of diagnostic capability of non-cryogenic ULF MRI of extremities and other parts of the body. The system can be also applied to image animals and tissues.

Field Forensics, Inc. (FFI) has built a bottled liquids scanner utilizing ultra–low field NMR relaxometry. This device, called MagViz, is based upon a prototype developed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) (Espy et al. Appl Supercond IEEE Trans 21(3):530, 2011; Espy et al. Supercond Sci Technol 23:034023. doi:10.1088/0953-2048/23/3/034023, 2010) [1, 2]. Despite using conventional Faraday detection coils in lieu of SQUIDs, MagViz, has demonstrated sufficient sensitivity to identify a number of threat liquids of interest to the Department of Homeland Security (Matlashov et al. Appl Supercond IEEE Trans 21(3):465–468, 2011) [3]. By accurate measurement of T1 and T2, liquids contained in opaque bottles and even non-ferromagnetic metal containers can be reliably identified. Protons are aligned using a 50 mT pre-polarizing field. T1 is determined in the pre-polarizing field, and T2 relaxation time is typically measured at 2,048 Hz in a 48 μT field. The coil assembly is contained within a table-top 0.79 m tall magnetically shielded enclosure. Although primarily intended for commercial and security applications, MagViz, works at Larmor frequencies that correspond to timescales that are characteristic of a host of interesting, slow, molecular dynamic processes like diffusion and intramolecular motion as well as biological processes such as protein folding, catalysis, and ligand binding and could conceivably serve as a COTS research instrument for fundamental studies in these areas.

The idea of using a large-scale superconducting quantum interference device array for simultaneous detection of both magneto-encephalography (MEG) and magnetic resonance images of the brain at ultra-low field (ULF MRI) is extremely attractive. It could reasonably improve the superposition of images from the two different modalities. Adding a ULF MRI capability to MEG implies the addition of coils for generation of fields and gradients. In addition there is a difference between the optimization criteria for pickup coils. MEG pick-up coils should be small enough to avoid smoothing of spatially sharp field distributions. In the case of ULF MRI the spatial resolution is defined by the applied gradients and the voxel signal-to-noise ratio but not by the pick-up coil diameter. Thus, ULF MRI systems may need fewer pick-up coils of larger size to cover the same area of interest. One approach is a hybrid design with different sizes and quantities of pick-up coils for recording of MEG and MRI signals. We describe a configuration of the 80-channel SQUID array that consists of 64 MEG and 16 MRI magnetometers. We also describe performance of gradiometers in comparison with magnetometers.

Los Alamos scientists have advanced a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) technology that may provide a breakthrough for screening liquids at airport security. They've added low-power X-ray data to the mix, and as a result have unlocked a new detection technology. Funded in part by the Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate, the new system is named MagRay. The goal is to quickly and accurately distinguish between liquids that visually appear identical. For example, what appears to be a bottle of white wine could potentially be nitromethane, a liquid that could be used to make an explosive. Both are clear liquids, one would be perfectly safe on a commercial aircraft, the other would be strictly prohibited. How to tell them apart quickly without error at an airport security area is the focus of Michelle Espy, Larry Schultz and their team. In this video, Espy and the MagRay team explain how the new technology works, how they've developed an easy operator interface, and what the next steps might be in transitioning this technology to the private sector.

The ability to perform magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in ultra-low magnetic fields (ULF) of ∼100 μT, using superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) detection, has enabled a new class of magnetoencephalography (MEG) instrumentation capable of recording both anatomical (via the ULF MRI) and functional (biomagnetic) information about the brain. The combined ULF MRI/MEG instrument allows both structural and functional information to be co-registered to a single coordinate system and acquired in a single device. In this paper we discuss the considerations and challenges required to develop a combined ULF MRI/MEG device, including pulse sequence development, magnetic field generation, SQUID operation in an environment of pulsed pre-polarization, and optimization of pick-up coil geometries for MRI in different noise environments. We also discuss the design of a “hybrid” ULF MRI/MEG system under development in our laboratory that uses SQUID pick-up coils separately optimized for MEG and ULF MRI.

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is widely used in medicine, chemistry and industry. One application area is magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Recently it has become possible to perform NMR and MRI in the ultra-low field (ULF) regime requiring measurement field strengths of the order of only 1 Gauss. This technique exploits the advantages offered by superconducting quantum interference devices or SQUIDs. Our group has built SQUID based MRI systems for brain imaging and for liquid explosives detection at airport security checkpoints. The requirement for liquid helium cooling limits potential applications of ULF MRI for liquid identification and security purposes. Our experimental comparative investigation shows that room temperature inductive magnetometers may provide enough sensitivity in the 3-10 kHz range and can be used for fast liquid explosives detection based on ULF NMR technique. We describe experimental and computer-simulation results comparing multichannel SQUID based and induction coils based instruments that are capable of performing ULF MRI for liquid identification.

Progress in the development of high-sensitivity magnetic-field measurements has stimulated interest in understanding the magnetic noise of conductive materials, especially of magnetic shields based on high-permeability materials and/or high-conductivity materials. For example, SQUIDs and atomic magnetometers have been used in many experiments with mu-metal shields, and additionally SQUID systems frequently have radio frequency shielding based on thin conductive materials. Typical existing approaches to modeling noise only work with simple shield and sensor geometries while common experimental setups today consist of multiple sensor systems with complex shield geometries. With complex sensor arrays used in, for example, MEG and Ultra Low Field MRI studies, knowledge of the noise correlation between sensors is as important as knowledge of the noise itself. This is crucial for incorporating efficient noise cancelation schemes for the system. We developed an approach that allows us to calculate the Johnson noise for arbitrary shaped shields and multiple sensor systems. The approach is efficient enough to be able to run on a single PC system and return results on a minute scale. With a multiple sensor system our approach calculates not only the noise for each sensor but also the noise correlation matrix between sensors. Here we will show how the algorithm can be implemented.

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods are widely used in medicine, chemistry and industry. Over the past several years there has been increasing interest in performing NMR and MRI in the ultra-low field (ULF) regime, with measurement field strengths of 10-100 microTesla and pre-polarization fields of 30-50 mTesla. The real-time signal-to-noise ratio for such measurements is about 100. Our group at LANL has built and demonstrated the performance of SQUID-based ULF NMR/MRI instrumentation for classification of materials and detection of liquid explosives via their relaxation properties measured at ULF, using T1, T2, and T1 frequency dispersion. We are also beginning to investigate the performance of induction coils as sensors. Here we present recent progress on the applications of ULF MR to the detection of liquid explosives, in imaging and relaxometry.

Soft cosmic ray tomography has been shown to successfully discriminate materials with various density levels due to their ability to deeply penetrate matter, allowing sensitivity to atomic number, radiation length and density. Because the multiple muon scattering signal from high Z-materials is very strong, the technology is well suited to the detection of the illicit transportation of special and radiological nuclear materials. In addition, a recent detection technique based on measuring the lower energy particles that do not traverse the material (range radiography), allows to discriminate low and medium Z-materials. This is shown in [4] using Monte Carlo simulations. More recently, using a mini muon tracker developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory, we performed various experiments to try out the radiation length technology. This paper presents the results from real experiments and evaluates the likelihood that soft cosmic ray tomography may be applied to detect high-explosives.

Soft cosmic ray tomography has been shown to successfully discriminate materials with various density levels due to their ability to deeply penetrate matter, allowing sensitivity to atomic number, radiation length and density. Because the multiple muon scattering signal from high Z-materials is very strong, the technology is well suited to the detection of the illicit transportation of special and radiololgical nuclear materials. In addition, a recent detection technique based on measuring the lower energy particles that do not traverse the material (range radiography), allows to discriminate low and medium Z-materials. We have demonstrated it first using Monte Carlo simulations. More recently, using a Mini-Muon Tracker developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory, we performed various experiments to try out the radiation length technology. This paper presents the results from real experiments and evaluates the likelihood that soft cosmic ray tomography may be applied to detect high-explosives.