Patent ID: 8358731

Claim:
An apparatus for detecting explosives and controlled substances in an object, comprising: an enclosure; a shield layer disposed within the enclosure; a cavity disposed within the shield layer, said cavity comprising one or more turns which preclude a straight line trajectory through the cavity; a source/detection array disposed within the cavity, the source/detection array comprising a plurality of neutron sources and a plurality of gamma detectors; a transport mechanism for moving objects through the cavity and past the source/detection array; and a means for: activating the plurality of neutron sources to irradiate an object with neutron particles to cause the object to generate gamma rays, analyzing gamma counts associated with the gamma rays detected by the plurality of gamma detectors to determine whether an explosive or controlled substance is present in the object, and activating the plurality of neutron sources to pulse sequentially if it is determined that an explosive or controlled substance is present in the object.