Strip detectors for a portal monitor application

A design for a new equipment for non intrusive inspection of containers in ports is described. The project involves the construction of a similar to 125 m(3) cosmic muon-tracking detector, to measure the deflection of cosmic muons when traversing high-Z materials. The apparatus consists of four X-Y charged particle detector planes, two placed below and two above the container to be inspected. The detection planes are segmented into 300 cm long, 1 cm(2) square plastic scintillating strips with embedded WLS fibers that transport the scintillation light to photo-sensors (SiPMs) at one end of the fiber. Detailed GEANT4 simulations have demonstrated the possibility of reconstructing a 3D image of the container volume in a reasonable amount of time, compatible with the requirements of a fast inspection technique.