How Thor's Hammer Helps Us See the Unseeable
MJOLNIR, or the Megajoule Neutron Imaging Radiography Experiment is a foray into the world of novel imaging techniques. Andréa Schmidt, Tony Link and their team are pushing the boundaries of electrical engineering, nuclear physics, and computational modeling to produce the world's first high-speed neutron image. Click here to find out more about MJOLNIR: str.llnl.gov/c...
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LLNL-VIDEO-829697
#MagajouleNeutronImaging #NeutronImage #MJOLNIR #LLNL
Пікірлер: 40
Thanks for creating this. I really enjoy being a cheerleader of scientific endeavor (almost as much as starving myself for a day just so eating a doughnut next day tastes that much better)
Excellent video on how neutrons are produced, yet we see nothing of HOW the neutron burst is converted to an image that provides wanted information. Old tech of measuring nuclear weapons neutrons was detecting proportional production of protons kicked by out of high proton targets, like paraffin, then bent through a mass spectrometer magnet to get energies of the protons. Yet this video says nothing about how neutrons are imaged.
@drdreschmidt
3 ай бұрын
That's a great question! We use a plastic scintillator fiber bundle. Because high energy neutrons can take several centimeters to absorb appreciably, our fiber bundle is thick (currently 5 cm). The fact that the scintillator material is arranged in a fiber bundle geometry allows the neutrons to interact with the scintillator anywhere in that thickness and still have the light produced piped to the face of the scintillator without substantial blur. The face of the scintillator mates to a fiber optic taper, at which point the signal is amplified by a microchannel plate. The image is then transferred along a fiber optic rope to another enclosure containing an intensified CMOS detector.
@EK14MeV
3 ай бұрын
@@drdreschmidt Thanks for the reply.👍🏻 Are you using the green scintillator POPOP fiber that was used on accelerator detectors years ago?
@drdreschmidt
3 ай бұрын
@@EK14MeV I'm not too familiar with POPOP, but the scintillating fibers we currently use are made by Saint Gobain out of a custom formulation called BCF-99-55 (similar to BCF-12). We have also used fiber bundles made from fibers that are pulled from a similar scintillator material made by Epic Crystals.
That’s one of the coolest names
Ms Schmidt is the coolest!
Anyone know where the host from this video came from? I recall seeing her (and especially remember her voice) before somewhere…
Does LLNL have internships for college students? This looks super interesting and right up my ally
@seanlittleton4287
2 жыл бұрын
Yes they do. They have an outstanding summer internship program, and in normal years (not sure about right now) they have a big poster session at the end of the summer where all the interns present the work they've done.
@PlasmaFreak
2 жыл бұрын
@@seanlittleton4287 Ok awesome! Thanks for the reply!
@drdreschmidt
2 жыл бұрын
Definitely! There are many avenues for internships. You may consider checking out the SULI program hosted by DoE.
Thor's camera would be a stretch.
Is that the pit below where the Nova laser target chamber used to be?
Fascinating reading about Olaf Jansen lead me here
Can that Z pinch be used for fusion energy?
@drdreschmidt
3 ай бұрын
No, we don't produce nearly as much energy as it takes to run the device.
I wonder if this is used in the weapons lab to calibrate the neutron generators in the primary.
Is so so cool!!!!! ♫♪♫♪
Did I hear that fusion is occurring? Can you confirm? I was under the impression that inducing fusion was even harder than generating super-supermanian neutron vision or bending steel with ones bare hands.
@drdreschmidt
2 жыл бұрын
Break-even fusion, where you generate more power than you use to smash atoms together, is extremely challenging. But we consume more energy than is contained in the energetic neutrons that we produce, which is not as challenging. Thanks for watching!
@ChildovGhad
2 жыл бұрын
Desmond, you might also be interested in what goes on at the National Ignition Facility, where high power lasers are used to generate the necessary heat and pressure to initiate fusion. As drdreschmidt points out about Thor, generating small fusion reactions in laboratory conditions isn't quite so difficult as the holy grail of sustainable fusion for power generation. In this endeavor, China's tokamak reactor (using magnetic fields rather than instantaneous electrical discharges or lasers) recently set a new milestone.
I approve!
Looks like I was wrong. The host didn't make any mistake, she was describing how X-rays specifically work and the host's explanation was valid. I apologize for the error. I appreciate the reply from Padmanabha Prasanna Sihma, without whom I wouldn't have reviewed the video again and would likely have never corrected this mistake. [Original comment below] I love how the scientist debunks the explanation the host provided for how Neutron absorption works. Host: 'Neutrons pass through soft matter and trapped by hard matter like bones which is how X-rays work.' MJOLNIR Operator and Scientist: 'The neutrons will pass through hard substances like the metal of the engine, but be absorbed by the fuel.'
@padmanabhaprasannasimha5385
2 жыл бұрын
The host said that X-Rays pass through soft matter and are absorbed by hard stuff like bones and metal. Which is perfectly correct.
@VariantAEC
2 жыл бұрын
@@padmanabhaprasannasimha5385 Alright, I concede. The host did specify "X-rays." I was thinking about how neutrons work. The host isn't wrong because she specified which form of light is being used before discussing it and she did explain how x-rays work properly. I was wrong to accuse the host of providing incorrect information.
@JG-mp5nb
2 жыл бұрын
@@VariantAEC A true measure of a scientist and genuinely humble person.
Interesting...I was not aware that an Iphone could take 100 photos per second.
@evanclarke6496
2 жыл бұрын
Set your iPhone to slo-motion video mode. That’s 120 fps, and each frame is a photo
So....... You really think that they are just making an imaging tool? This has "weapon" written all over it. Imaging the inside of a running engine to see the fuel is a poor misdirection. If you really wanted to image the fuel, then adding an isotope would allow a good resolution x-ray image to be had, or an fmri using nano metal particles in the fuel would work as well. This is a WEAPON, plain and simple. Can it be utilised to do imaging, probably, but certainly not on humans, the ionized radiation is too high for use on humans, even at very fast imaging cycles, not to mention the kind of sheilding required to run such an imaging device on humans would make the machine cost prohibitive. It's a hammer .......... for hitting nails!!
@gorkushka
Жыл бұрын
Not a weapon, but a component of a nuclear weapon. See my comment about pulse generator tubes in the primary trigger.
Jimmy Neutron
Why is She on LLL . She should stay at seeker
@vripscript
2 жыл бұрын
Misogynist much?
@bbt305
2 жыл бұрын
@@vripscript wrong . I love women and btw … i am a woman!
@vripscript
2 жыл бұрын
@@bbt305 If you say so
@bbt305
2 жыл бұрын
@@vripscript 👍🏼
@bbt305
2 жыл бұрын
I will accept a label of misanthrope if that makes u feel better. Since its important to judge others and silence opinions.