Hybrid superconducting neutron detectors

Merlo, V.; Salvato, M.; Cirillo, M.; Lucci, M.; Ottaviani, I.; Scherillo, A.; Celentano, G.; Pietropaolo, A.

doi:10.1063/1.4915608

Cited by 21 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 13 publications

(18 reference statements)

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“…N the past decades the supply of 3 He has become unstable due to its close relations to defense and security. At the same time neutron detector requirements have changed as faster and brighter sources are being installed at the large-scale neutron facilities around the world.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At the same time neutron detector requirements have changed as faster and brighter sources are being installed at the large-scale neutron facilities around the world. Due to 3 He based detectors being the vast majority of existing neutron detectors, this has led to a stronger focus on developing novel neutron detectors based on other detection methods and materials.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are only five materials with neutron absorption cross sections sufficiently high for use in effective neutron detection. These are 3 He, 6 Li, 10 B, 157 Gd and 113 Cd. 6 Li is often used for scintillator type detectors as described by N. J. Rhodes [1].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Existing superconducting detectors for neutron detection are relatively few and so far non-commercial. Merlo et al have tested a design with a 10 B-coated Nb and NbN nanostrip, which showed a very long reset time of 120s, far from the state-of-theart of ms [3]. Yoshioka et al developed a MgB2-based kinetic inductance detector (KID) using a meander design [4] and most recently, Iizawa et al have developed the Nb-based Current Biased KID (CB-KID) as a functioning neutron imaging system [4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Strain Effects of Absorbing Layer on Superconducting Properties of a High-Flux Neutron Detector

Brock

Lai

Abrahamsen

et al. 2022

IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond.

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An increasingly unstable supply of 3 He in the past decade along with growing demands for detectors from the large-scale neutron facilities have led to a higher focus on developing neutron detectors not relying on 3 He. In this study a superconducting transition edge sensor (TES) based on a stack of thin films is combined with a neutron absorbing layer of 10 B4C to build a sensitive and robust neutron detector. The difference in lattice structure causes tensile strain in the thin, stacked, structure, which results in changes in the superconducting parameters. The strain was measured along with its effect on the superconducting transition and thereby the sensitivity of the detector. A decrease in Tc of a few percent and in the range of 0.3 to 2.2 K was found from two different samples with varying boron coverage for a calculated strain of < 0.07%. A change in sensitivity due to strain was found to be from -58% to -15%, depending on deposition coverage and the deposition process. Effects on the superconducting properties were found to be within a range that can be compensated by design and setup considerations and these are therefore not expected to pose problems for the future detectors build on this principle.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Strain Effects of Absorbing Layer on Superconducting Properties of a High-Flux Neutron Detector

Brock

Lai

Abrahamsen

et al. 2022

IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond.

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“…Note, the bias current lines being pushed out of the normal zone to the sides of the strip. To simplify matters, the α-particle is supposed to be emitted in a direction normal to the strip (Adapted from [11], with the permission of AIP Publishing).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Superconducting Strips: A Concept in Thermal Neutron Detection

Merlo

2018

Instruments

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Abstract:In the never-ending quest for better detection efficiency and spatial resolution, various thermal neutron detection schemes have been proposed over the years. Given the presence of some converting layers (typically boron, but 6 LiF is also widely used nowadays), the shift towards concepts based on solid state detectors has been steadily increasing and ingenious schemes thereby proposed. However, a trade-off has been always sought for between efficiency and spatial resolution; the problem can be (at least partially) circumvented using more elaborate geometries, but this complicates the sample preparation and detector construction. Thus, viable alternatives must be found. What we proposed (and verified experimentally) is a detection scheme based on the superconducting to normal transition. More precisely, using a boron converting layer, the α particles (generated in the (n, α) reaction) crossing a low critical temperature superconducting strip some 10 µm wide have been detected; the process, bolometric in nature and based on the ionization energy loss, is intrinsically fast and the spatial resolution very appealing. In this work, some of the work done so far will be illustrated, together with the principles of the measurement and various related problems. The realization of the detector is based on industrial deposition and photolitographic techniques well within the grasp of a condensed matter laboratory, so that there is substantial room for improvement over our elementary strip geometry. Some of the plans for future work will also be presented, together with some improvements both in the choice of the materials and the geometry of the detector.

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