Imaging via Cosmic Muon Induced Secondaries

Abstract

As cosmic muons traverse a target, they interact with it, producing secondary radiation, whose spectrum
depends on the material-composition of the target. This imaging technique is sensitive to low-Z materials
as well, opening a novel noninvasive material-identification method for medium-sized obscure targets.
Our Hungarian-Serbian collaboration pioneered in demonstrating experimentally this unique method, using
gaseous trackers for the muons and a scintillator array and germanium detector for the secondaries.
Results have proven imaging possibilities ranging from metals to soft-tissue targets. Corresponding Geant4
simulations have revealed forward-sideward asymmetry and sensitivity to the electron/gamma ratio. The
former is materialized in a new experimental setup, with large coverage via segmented scintillator arrays,
and a combined and compact DAQ, with an electron-tagging possibility. The paper describes the recent
results in imaging via secondaries and details the new enhanced experimental setup and its first results.