Measurement of the Fast Neutron Energy Spectrum of an $^{241}{\rm Am\!-\!Be}$ Source Using a Neutron Scatter Camera

Brennan, James S.; Brubaker, E.; Cooper, R. L.; Greenberg, Charles H.; Marleau, Peter; Mascarenhas, Nicholas; Mrowka, S.

doi:10.1109/tns.2011.2163192

Cited by 24 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…For example, neutron imaging techniques using double-scatter kinematic reconstruction depend on the proton light yield relation to determine the energy of the recoil proton following an n-p elastic scattering event and thereby infer the angle of the incident neutron. [1,2] The light yield relation is also used as input to Monte Carlo simulations of the response of neutron detection systems, which in turn is a critical input for neutron spectroscopy techniques using pulse height spectrum unfolding. [3,4] Several categories of methods exist for the measurement of proton light yield-direct methods, indirect methods, and edge characterization techniques-as detailed in Sec.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Proton light yield in organic scintillators using a double time-of-flight technique

Brown

Goldblum

Laplace

et al. 2018

Journal of Applied Physics

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Recent progress in the development of novel organic scintillators necessitates modern characterization capabilities. As the primary means of energy deposition by neutrons in these materials is n-p elastic scattering, knowledge of the proton light yield is paramount. This work establishes a new model-independent method to continuously measure proton light yield in organic scintillators over a broad energy range. Using a deuteron breakup neutron source at the 88-Inch Cyclotron at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and an array of organic scintillators, the proton light yield of EJ-301 and EJ-309, commercially available organic liquid scintillators from Eljen Technology, were measured via a double time-of-flight technique. The light yield was determined using a kinematically over-constrained system in the proton energy range of 1 − 20 MeV. The effect of pulse integration length on the magnitude and shape of the proton light yield relation was also explored. This work enables accurate simulation of the performance of advanced neutron detectors and supports the development of next-generation neutron imaging systems.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Proton light yield in organic scintillators using a double time-of-flight technique

Brown

Goldblum

Laplace

et al. 2018

Journal of Applied Physics

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“…Finally, the NSC is advantageous because Sandia has two functioning NSCs with sophisticated modeling capability supporting each system. The modeling is described in some detail in a peer-reviewed publication [15], and will not be repeated here.…”

Section: Detector Response Modelingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using fast neutron signatures for improved UF6 cylinder enrichment measurements.

Kiff¹,

Brubaker²,

Marleau³

2013

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The authors have investigated the use of fast neutrons-primarily the fast neutron energy spectrum-as a signature for uranium hexafluoride (UF 6 ) nuclear accountancy measurements. Detailed modeling of UF 6 storage cylinders and a proposed neutron detection system indicates that the measured neutron energy spectrum is indeed a function of uranium enrichment. Field measurements at the Department of Energy's Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant with a detection system similar to the modeled system provided an opportunity to collect signatures from several storage cylinders containing UF 6 with a range of enrichments. Subsequent analysis lends credibility to the modeling results, indicating that enrichment over the range measured (0.72% to 4.95% uranium-235) can be extracted from the measured neutron energy spectrum. These results were scaled to estimate the tradeoff in measurement system size and counting time to achieve a relative enrichment measurement uncertainty of 5%. 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTSThe authors would like to thank several individuals for their contributions to this project. Robert Cooper provided modeling support for the simulated emissions of 30B cylinders, and played an important role in experiments and analysis of the detector response. Laura Kogler provided important analysis support, and generated important comparisons of the Neutron Scatter Camera to other mature technologies. Isaac Shokair was very helpful in understanding implementation of the Principal Component Analysis technique. Michael Streicher provided important simulation and experimental support, which was useful in understanding the detector response to 30B emissions and the characterization of hardware in the laboratory.Jim Brennan and Dan Throckmorton provided support during the assembly of the detector system fielded at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PGDP). Stanley Mrowka provided software for the data acquisition system and assisted in the data collection at PGDP. Randy DeVault (DOE/Oak Ridge Field Office) and Richard Mayer (DOE/Lexington Field Office) were instrumental in identifying and facilitating the measurement opportunity at PGDP. Brent Montgomery, John Price, and Tullus Crawford of the United States Enrichment Corporation (USEC) provided support for the PGDP measurements.

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“…For example, the state-of-the-art neutron scatter camera in [3] has 32 digitizer channels (One channel per PMT). To capture the 1ns -2ns rise time and 100ns to 400ns duration of the pulses in the PMT output signal, a minimum sample rate of 200 MHz is used.…”

Section: Psd Using Non-traditional Sampling Techniquesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The compressive sensing framework then provides an efficient acquisition scheme to extract this sparse representation. Specifically for radiation detection applications, this information includes PSD, signal energy, and time-of-flight (ToF) information, which is necessary for the system in [3].…”

Section: Compressive Sensing Based Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Compressive sensing for nuclear security

Gestner

2013

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Special nuclear material (SNM) detection has applications in nuclear material control, treaty verification, and national security. The neutron and gamma-ray radiation signature of SNMs can be indirectly observed in scintillator materials, which fluoresce when exposed to this radiation. A photomultiplier tube (PMT) coupled to the scintillator material is often used to convert this weak fluorescence to an electrical output signal. The fluorescence produced by a neutron interaction event differs from that of a gamma-ray interaction event, leading to a slightly different pulse in the PMT output signal. The ability to distinguish between these pulse types, i.e., pulse shape discrimination (PSD), has enabled applications such as neutron spectroscopy, neutron scatter cameras, and dual-mode neutron/gamma-ray imagers. In this research, we explore the use of compressive sensing to guide the development of novel mixed-signal hardware for PMT output signal acquisition. Effectively, we explore smart digitizers that extract sufficient information for PSD while requiring a considerably lower sample rate than conventional digitizers. Given that we determine the feasibility of realizing these designs in custom low-power analog integrated circuits, this research enables the incorporation of SNM detection into wireless sensor networks.

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Measurement of the Fast Neutron Energy Spectrum of an $^{241}{\rm Am\!-\!Be}$ Source Using a Neutron Scatter Camera

Cited by 24 publications

References 13 publications

Proton light yield in organic scintillators using a double time-of-flight technique

Proton light yield in organic scintillators using a double time-of-flight technique

Using fast neutron signatures for improved UF6 cylinder enrichment measurements.

Compressive sensing for nuclear security

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