Benchmark experiments with slab sample using time-of-flight technique at CIAE

Measurements of neutron energy spectra of 9Be(d,n)10B reaction with a thick beryllium target *

“…The flight length of the emitted neutrons between the metallic beryllium target and the front surface of the detector was 3.0 m. In this experiment, the threshold of the BC501A liquid scintillator detector was 0.191 MeV. A silicon surface barrier detector (SSD) was placed in the direction with respect to the deuteron beam, to monitor the neutron yield by counting the associated protons from the D(d,p)T reaction owing to the deuterium ions bombarding self-injecting deuterons in the target, because the D(d,n) 3 He reaction occurred along with the D(d,p)T reaction. The SSD was positioned at 90 cm from the Be sample target.…”

“…In addition, the deuteron beam self-injected into a beam-limiting diaphragm, and deuterium ions bombarded self-injected deuterons in the beam-limiting diaphragm, to produce neutrons by the D(d,n) 3 He reaction. These neutrons were also responded to in the BC501A liquid scintillator detector.…”

“…These neutrons were also responded to in the BC501A liquid scintillator detector. To determine the position of the D(d,n) 3 He neutron peaks in the neutron TOF spectra and neutron energy spectra, the neutron flight distances from the beam-limiting diaphragm to the BC501A liquid scintillator detector are shown in Fig. 1.…”

“…Accelerator neutron sources are widely used in neutron physics and neutron applications, owing to the high neutron yield, good controllability, compactness, and nonproliferation capability [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. Typically, in exothermic nuclear reactions, deuterons and tritons are bombarded with deuterium ions, producing fusion neutrons by the 2 H(d,n) 3 He (D-D) and 3 H(d,n) 4 He (D-T) reactions, and deuterium ions bombard beryllium, producing neutrons by the 9 Be(d,n) 10 B (D-Be) reaction for low energy ions at keV. Compared with deuterium-adsorption targets and tritium-adsorption targets, metallic beryllium exhibits stable chemical properties and excellent hardness.…”

“…which allows metallic beryllium targets to withstand high intensity ion beams. Most importantly, the cross section of the 2 H(d,n) 3 He (D-D) reaction is roughly equivalent to the 9 Be(d,n) 10 B (D-Be) reaction for low energy ions at keV. As a result, accelerator-based 9 Be(d,n) 10 B reaction neutron sources can generate high intensity and continuous-spectrum neutron fields at low energy deuterium ions.…”