<title>Analytical studies of a backscatter x-ray imaging landmine detection system</title>

Abstract

The Compton Backscatter Imaging (CBI) technique has been applied successfully to detect buried plastic anti-tank landmines. The images acquired by a CBI system are often cluttered by surface features. Additionally, some buried objects give the same response as the plastic landmines. The landmine detection can be successful only when the detection system is capable of distinguishing between surface features and the mine-like objects. This can be accomplished by designing detectors that differentiate between the surface features and the buried objects. An understanding of the physical phenomena underlining the CB image formation helps us to design these detectors. To study the physics of the Compton backscattering, the photon transport in a CBI system is simulated using Monte-Carlo calculations with the generalized particle transport program MCNP. The photon tracks are graphically displayed using a visualization program SABRINA. On the basis of the results from these Monte-Carlo analyses, a four-detector system has been designed. This detector design utilizes the unique nature of various collision components of the scattered photons to generate separate images of buried objects and surface features. The success of this detector design is demonstrated through a series of analytically generated images. The results of the experimental measurements that validate these analytical predictions are brought out in a separate paper to be presented in this conference.