Neutron imaging is a non-destructive inspection technique with diverse applications across various fields. The major challenge in advancing neutron imaging techniques lies in improving spatial resolution. While many applications of neutron imaging have typically been performed with a spatial resolution on the order of 100 micrometers, much higher resolutions in the sub-micrometer range have long been awaited.
An international collaboration involving Prof. Jameel-Un Nabi (Vice Chancellor, University of Wah, Pakistan), Dr. Abdul Muneem (GIK Institute, Pakistan, and High Energy Nuclear Physics Laboratory, RIKEN, Japan), Prof. Junya Yoshida (Tohoku University and High Energy Nuclear Physics Laboratory, RIKEN, Japan), and Prof. Takehiko R. Saito (Chief Scientist, High Energy Nuclear Physics Laboratory, RIKEN, Japan) has achieved the world’s best neutron imaging resolution of 887 nanometers. This was accomplished by developing a neutron detector consisting of fluorescent nuclear track detectors (FNTD, Al2O3:C, Mg) and a 10B foil. This work forms part of the Ph.D. thesis of Dr. Abdul Muneem (GIK Institute) supervised by Prof. Jameel-Un Nabi (University of Wah, Pakistan) and co-supervised by Prof. Takehiko R. Saito (RIKEN, Japan).
An article detailing the project and its results was published in Scientific Reports on January 24, 2025:
Scientific Reports (2025) 15:2103 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-84591-x
RIKEN and Tohoku University, Japan, also issued a press release (available in Japanese only):
https://www.riken.jp/press/2025/20250124_2/index.html
https://www.tohoku.ac.jp/japanese/2025/01/press20250127-01-Imaging.html
Collaboration list: Abdul Muneem1,2, Hiroyuki Ekawa1, Masahiro Hino3, Katsuya Hirota4, Go Ichikawa4,5, Ayumi Kasagi1,6, Masaaki Kitaguchi7,8, Satoshi Kodaira9, Kenji Mishima4,7, Jameel-Un Nabi10, Manami Nakagawa1, Naotaka Naganawa7,11, Michio Sakashita1, Norihito Saito1, Takehiko R. Saito1,12,13, Satoshi Wada1, Junya Yoshida14,15 and Nakahiro Yasuda16
1RIKEN, Japan 2GIK Institute, Pakistan 3KURNS, Kyoto University, Japan 4KEK, Japan 5J-PARC, Japan 6Rikkyo University, Japan 7Nagoya University, Japan 8KMI, Nagoya University, Japan 9QST, Chiba, Japan 10University of Wah, Pakistan 11IMaSS, Nagoya University, Japan 12GSI, Germany 13Saitama University, Japan 14Tohuku University, Japan 15SRIS, Tohuku University, Japan 16University of Fukui, Japan
