Because antipersonnel landmines contain a high percentage in organic material and very low
or none at all of metal parts, the detection of them using what was in past times the
customary tool, the metal detector, is not effective any more. Several novel methods are
being proposed that distinguish this type of landmines buried in soil. A nuclear technique has
recently shown its potential for this task. This technique, known as Gamma-ray Compton
Backscattering (GBT) is able of produce an image of organic objects buried up to a depth
around 7 cm by sending a beam of gamma-rays towards the sample of soil under inspection and obtaining a
map (image) of the sample with the backscattered radiation.
The research group presenting this proposal has already been working on this technique for several years and has made substantial progress. The project proposes to continue that research since an experimental prototype has been tested and proved its functioning. The activities proposed strive the better understanding of the processes that lead to the formation of the image.
Since this is a complex, multiparametric and highly non-linear problem, a methodology running over one year and mixing experimental work together with sophisticated Monte Carlo simulation and in some cases analytical approximations has been designed.
Funding is asked for one grad student, and for the acquisition of additional electronichardware to be able to run complimentary experiments simultaneously.
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