title: New analytical approach for neutron beam-hardening correction.
abstract: In neutron imaging, the beam-hardening effect has a significant effect on quantitative and qualitative image interpretation. This study aims to propose a linearization method for beam-hardening correction. The proposed method is based on a new analytical approach establishing the attenuation coefficient as a function of neutron energy. Spectrum energy shift due to beam hardening is studied on the basis of Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP) simulated data and the analytical data. Good agreement between MCNP and analytical values has been found. Indeed, the beam-hardening effect is well supported in the proposed method. A correction procedure is developed to correct the errors of beam-hardening effect in neutron transmission, and therefore for projection data correction. The effectiveness of this procedure is determined by its application in correcting reconstructed images.
authors.affiliation: Nuclear Research Centre of Birine, BP 180, Ain Oussera, Djelfa, Algeria. Electronic address: n_benaskeur@yahoo.fr.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hachouf
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Setif, Algeria.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kharfi
authors.affiliation: Nuclear Research Centre of Birine, BP 180, Ain Oussera, Djelfa, Algeria.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hachouf
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Setif, Algeria.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Boucenna
keywords: Attenuation coefficient; Beam hardening; Energy shift; MCNP simulation; Neutron transmission