Fast-neutron detectors for nuclear physics experiments

Abstract

Fast-neutron detectors are used in a wide range of nuclear physics experiments including studies of elastic and inelastic neutron scattering, charge-exchange reactions, photonuclear reactions, neutron-induced fission, and, especially recently, reactions of radioactive nuclei. Although many of the detectors being developed now are based on technologies that are several decades old, new physics is now accessible due to the advent of advanced accelerators, and these facilities present challenging opportunities for detecting fast neutrons. The choice of detectors, their appropriateness for particular measurements and how they are integrated into experiments will be discussed. Detector arrays are of particular importance these days to study angular distributions or simply to increase the solid angle coverage to increase the data rate. Modeling the response of the detectors has become much more important in order to understand better their response and to calculate effects of neutron scattering in the experimental area, including detector-to-detector scattering. Data acquisition through waveform digitizers is now common and leads to more information from each event as well as significant reductions in dead time and in the complexity of the electronics. At the same time, analyzing waveforms in real time presents challenges in terms of handling large amounts of information. Examples of significant improvements in the utilization of neutron detectors in physics experiments, in the characterization of the detector response, and in signal processing will be presented. KEYWORDS: Instrumentation and methods for time-of-flight (TOF) spectroscopy; Neutron detectors (cold, thermal, fast neutrons); Instrumentation and methods for heavy-ion reactions and fission studies

Front End Electronics for Radiation Detectors Based on SiC: Application to High Dose per Pulse Charged Particle Beam Current Measurement

“…Neutrons are classified into three catégories: Thermal, Epithermal and Fast neutrons as indicated Fig.4 [18].…”

Concept of a fast neutron detector based on 10B-RPCs

“…Fast neutron detectors are widely used in nuclear physics experiments including studies of elastic and inelastic neutron scattering, charge-exchange reactions, photonuclear reactions, neutron-induced fission, and reactions of radioactive nuclei [1]. Some of these applications do not rely on the measurements of the properties of the emitted particle, but rather on the counting of the number of the emitted neutrons.…”

Design and verification of a multi-layer single-sphere neutron spectrometer with water as the moderator

“…The development of basic neutron physics, neutron applications, and radiation protection has made neutron spectrum measurement indispensable [1][2][3][4]. Measurement devices include the time-offlight neutron spectrometer [5], Bonner sphere spectrometer (BSS) [6], and plastic scintillation detector [7,8].…”