Nuclear Detection for Homeland Security

There is a great need for new non-intrusive inspection technologies that provide substantially more information than conventional X-ray or neutron beam projective imaging technologies in the fields of Nuclear Security and Materials Identification. In recent years, a variety of techniques using high energy X-ray beams have been developed to provide non-destructive materials discrimination and identification. These new techniques employ a broad range of nuclear physics phenomena and measurement technologies. Examples of the present state-of-the-art nondestructive assaying technologies will be presented with emphasis on how exploiting nuclear interactions produces a wealth of new information for non-intrusive inspection even if contraband is shielded by many inches of steel. The author will also describe his path from academic nuclear physics to entrepreneurship in the medical, semiconductor implantation and security fields.