The new INFN-CHNet neutron imaging facility

In this paper, NICHE (Neutron Imaging for Cultural HEritage), the new neutron imaging facility of the Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) is shortly presented. We report on the main features of the beamline, the specifications of the detection set-up, and the performances of the imaging system. NICHE is installed at the TRIGA reactor of LENA (Laboratorio Energia Nucleare Applicata) Pavia University laboratory (Italy). The imaging facility was designed during 2020, installed in the spring 2021, and has been in operation since May 2021. NICHE is the first Italian neutron imaging station open to national external users through the INFN-CHNet network application system. NICHE allows users to obtain neutron radiographies and tomographies, thus allowing for morphological characterisation of samples. First results to highlight the potential of the facility are reported. In particular, we show the first results about spatial resolution measurement and 3D reconstruction to provide morphological analysis capabilities.

Automated summary

This paper presents NICHE (Neutron Imaging for Cultural HEritage), the new neutron imaging facility of the Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN). The main features of the beamline, the specifications of the detection set-up, and the performances of the imaging system are reported. NICHE is installed at the TRIGA reactor of LENA (Laboratorio Energia Nucleare Applicata) Pavia University laboratory (Italy). It is the first Italian neutron imaging station open to national external users and allows for morphological characterization of samples.