SUMMARY

Active interrogation of cargo containers employing monoenergetic photons offers
an expeditious low-dose approach in pursuit of shielded special nuclear materials.
Cherenkov detectors can be used for a variety of purposes, including imaging of the cargo contingent upon gamma ray
energies used in interrogation. If the gamma ray energies are sufficiently well separated, as the case in $^{11}$B(d,n-$\gamma$)$^{12}$C
reaction resulting in 4.4 MeV and 15.1 MeV photons, spectral analysis using Cherenkov detectors is possible. Applying an array of custom designed Cherenkov
detectors reduce undesired low energy background, both natural and scatter from the application environment, while producing the capability of
high contrast transmission imaging. Spectral analysis of the image can be used to confirm the presence of high-Z materials by analyzing the relative transmission of the two main energies emitted by exploiting the large difference in Compton Scatter and pair production cross sections. These detectors require a special approach to design and energy calibration due to the lack of resolution in order for spectral analysis to take place.
This thesis addresses the design and utility of Cherenkov detectors for active interrogation
with monoenergetic photons as well as the results of computational and experimental
studies of their energy calibration and application to imaging with material identification.