Patent ID: 7864920

Claim:
A method for identifying materials of interest within an enclosure, the method comprising: a. obtaining a three-dimensional image indicative of at least one of CT number and density of contents of the enclosure; b. identifying a suspect region of contents of the enclosure based on at least one of the CT number and density, the suspect region characterized by a center; c. aligning a collimated neutron beam to traverse the center of the suspect region; d. translating a collimated detector, characterized by a field-of-view, to a plurality of distinct positions, of which at least three of the distinct positions are not equidistant from any point in space, such that the center of the suspect region is in the field-of-view of the detector at the plurality of distinct positions; e. detecting fluorescence radiation emitted particularly by the suspect region in response to the collimated neutron beam by means of the collimated detector; and f. characterizing material within the suspect region based at least on the fluorescence radiation detected at the plurality of distinct positions.