Neutron imaging at the low flux training and research reactor AKR-2

Neutron imaging with thermal neutrons was performed at the training and research reactor AKR-2 of the Technische Universität Dresden (TUD) with the aim to demonstrate the feasibility of this method in the sense of a proof of concept at a very low-flux neutron source. The L/D-ratio characterizing the effective beam divergence was measured at all available experimental channels using the cadmium-knife method which in turn allows the estimation of the modulation transfer function of the complete imaging setup. The objective of this investigation is to determine a useful L/D and exposure time for imaging at AKR-2. The measured L/D-ratio ranges between 125 and 500 depending on the used channel. This result motivates the continuation of the study with an optimized imaging system, taking into account the specific properties of AKR-2.