A preliminary optimization of alanine blends for ESR dosimetry in a mixedn–γ field: Monte Carlo simulation

Abstract

In this study, a preliminary work on the enhancement of ESR response of several arrangements of alanine and boron compounds, exposed to a thermal neutron beam, is presented using FLUKA code. A multi-layer dosimeter consist of consecutive layers of alanine and boron compounds showed that the amount of energy deposited in the alanine layers is maximized when their thickness is 5 μm and the thickness of boron compound layers are between 2 and 3 μm. Furthermore, the optimum number of 10B layers in the dosimeter was found to be 35 layers. Moreover, the alanine samples consisting of small spherical grains of boron compounds, arranged regularly in the middle plane of the dosimeters, exposed to a thermal neutron beam, were modeled. The dependence of energy deposition in the alanine material on the size of grains, and on their composition were also studied, as well.