The second installment of OE Reports Technical Group Profile series features an interview with the chair of the smart structures group, Bill Spillman. Neutrons provide unique penetrating radiation by Yvonne Carts-Powell Figure 1. Neutron radiograph of a flower corsage shows the method's ability to image thin biological samples. Photo courtesy of Nray Services. The ways that neutrons interact with matter are very different from the way x rays interact with matter.
X rays interact with the electron cloud surrounding the nucleus of an atom.
Neutrons interact with the nucleus itself. The methods can be used in a complementary fashion. Patrick Doty, Senior Scientist at Sandia National Labs. This article concentrates on thermal and fast neutrons. Radioisotopes such as californium and amerecium-beryllium can generate fast neutrons as well, although this is not generally used for radiography.