A novel 4D resolution imaging method for low and medium atomic number objects at the centimeter scale by coincidence detection technique of cosmic-ray muon and its secondary particles

The muon radiography imaging technique for high-atomic-number objects (Z) and large-volume objects via muon transmission imaging and muon multiple scattering imaging remains a popular topic in the field of radiation detection imaging. However, few imaging studies have been reported on low and medium Z objects at the centimeter scale. This paper presents an imaging system that consists of three layers of a position-sensitive detector and four plastic scintillation detectors. It acquires data by coincidence detection technique of cosmic-ray muon and its secondary particles. A 3D imaging algorithm based on the density of the coinciding muon trajectory was developed, and 4D imaging that takes the atomic number dimension into account by considering the secondary particle ratio information was achieved. The resultant reconstructed 3D images could distinguish between a series of cubes with 5-mm-side lengths and 2-mm-intervals. If the imaging time is more than 20 days, this method can distinguish intervals with a width of 1 mm. The 4D images can specify target objects with low, medium, and high Z values.