Intense and Compact Neutron Sources (ICONS)

The Intense and Compact Neutron Sources (ICONS) Program in DARPA’s Defense Sciences Office (DSO) is seeking innovative ideas and novel approaches to achieve revolutionary increases in neutron source intensity and reductions in device size, weight, and power (SWaP) for in-the-field neutron radiography and analytical techniques. Although current neutron source intensities are adequate for rapid, high resolution imaging, the large infrastructure required to achieve these intensities limits their applications. Achieving these neutron intensities in an expeditionary package will enable concepts-of-operations (CONOPS) that are currently infeasible due to SWaP constraints. While source intensity is only one aspect of the performance of a complete neutron analytical capability, achieving orders-of-magnitude improvements in portable neutron source intensities remains critical for widespread neutron imaging and analysis. It is envisioned that these significant advances in neutron output versus system SWaP will be transformative for specialized portable neutron sensing CONOPS in addition to portable neutron radiography.