Neutron detection with mercuric iodide detectors

Beyerle, A.; Hull, K.

doi:10.1016/0168-9002(87)90236-1

Cited by 19 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…Beyerle and Hull [51], and Bell, Pohl, and van den Berg [52] have exploited this property of the 199 Hg(n, γ) reaction to detect thermal neutrons. 199 Hg comprises 16.9% of natural mercury, but has a capture cross section of 2200 b [53].…”

Section: Semiconductor Detectorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neutron detection with cryogenics and semiconductors

Bell

Carpenter

Cristy

et al. 2005

phys. stat. sol. (c)

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PACS 29.30.Hs, 29.40.Vj, 29.40.Wk The common methods of neutron detection are reviewed with special attention paid to the application of cryogenics and semiconductors to the problem. The authors' work with LiF-and boron-based cryogenic instruments is described as well as the use of CdTe and HgI 2 for direct detection of neutrons. 1 Introduction Advances in materials and methods have enabled the detection of radiation by means today that would have seemed, to pioneers in the field a century ago, like science fiction. Improvements in technology have resulted, for gamma ray detection, in high-purity germanium operating at 77 K and providing 0.1% energy resolution above 1 MeV, more than an order of magnitude improvement over what was (and still is) achievable by scintillators. However, operating below 1 K, cryogenic calorimeters have been used in X-ray astronomy, in the search for dark matter, and more recently in gamma ray spectroscopy, and have achieved better than 70 eV resolution at 60 keV [1], a factor of 4 to 5 improvement over what can be achieved by germanium at that energy. Meanwhile, at the other end of the temperature spectrum, the development of new, wide band-gap semiconductors has sparked research in room temperature gamma ray detectors and has held out the hope of 1 -2% resolution and freedom from cryogenics [2,3].With such results being reported from the X-and gamma ray world it is natural to examine the possibilities for neutron detection. A cryogenic neutron detector would operate by detecting the heat pulses caused by neutron capture and scattering, while a semiconducting detector would detect the nuclear reaction products from a sensitizer (for example, fission fragments detected in a 235 U-coated Si diode) or from some constituent of the semiconductor.In the following sections, the common methods of neutron detection are described and their deficiencies with respect to neutron spectroscopy at energies above thermal (0.025 eV) are outlined. Published work on neutron-detecting cryogenic calorimeters will be reviewed and work by the present authors on boron-and lithium-based instruments will be discussed. Turning to semiconductors, we review work with coated and native (uncoated) semiconductor, including Cd 1-x Zn x Te (CZT) and HgI 2 , as applied to neutron detection. Results obtained by the authors with HgI 2 will be shown.

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Section: Semiconductor Detectorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neutron detection with cryogenics and semiconductors

Bell

Carpenter

Cristy

et al. 2005

phys. stat. sol. (c)

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“…While both 6 Li and 10 B can produce charged products via neutron capture, 6 Li based materials have the additive bonus of the elimination of gamma ray interactions associated with the neutron capture process of interest. 6 Li is within a special subset where its unique reaction products include an alpha particle and a triton, symbolically written as 6 Li(n,α) 3 H, as opposed to a prompt gamma photon generated by the latter isotopes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…6 Li is within a special subset where its unique reaction products include an alpha particle and a triton, symbolically written as 6 Li(n,α) 3 H, as opposed to a prompt gamma photon generated by the latter isotopes. As such, a smaller material volume is required to absorb the energy of the products.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Scintillation properties of semiconducting 6LiInSe2 crystals to ionizing radiation

Wiggins

Groza

Tupitsyn

et al. 2015

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A:

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“…Additionally, depending on the range of the reaction products in the boron material, film thickness is restricted, due to energy self-absorption, resulting in a maximum intrinsic detection efficiency of approximately 4.5% [20]. Solid-state detectors containing 113 Cd and 199 Hg devices also have limited detection efficiency due to the low absorption probability of the prompt gamma-rays that result from the reactions 113 Cd(n,γ) 114 Cd and 199 Hg(n,γ) 200 Hg [7][8][9][10]. The reaction 157 Gd(n,γ) 158 Gd is desirable for the large 157 Gd thermal neutron capture cross section of 259,000 barns [21].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Materials containing, 6 Li, 10 B, 113 Cd, 157 Gd,and 199 Hg have been considered for solidstate neutron detectors [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. The 10 B(n,α) 7 Li reaction is desirable for the 10 B microscopic thermal neutron absorption cross section of 3839 barns, but boron-based compounds, such as BP, BN, and BAs, have shown limited success and thus far do not appear promising.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Synthesis and characterization of LiZnP and LiZnAs semiconductor material

Montag

Reichenberger

Arpin

et al. 2015

Journal of Crystal Growth

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a b s t r a c tResearch for a reliable solid-state semiconductor neutron detector continues because such a device has not been developed, and would have greater efficiency, than present-day gas-filled 3 He and 10 BF 3 neutron detectors. Further, a semiconductor neutron detector would be more compact and rugged than most gas-filled or scintillator neutron detectors. The 6 Li(n,t) 4 He reaction yields a total Q value of 4.78 MeV, a larger yield than the 10 B(n,α) 7 Li, and is easily identified above background radiation interactions. Hence, devices composed of either natural Li (naturally 7.5% 6 Li) or enriched 6 Li (approximately 95% 6 Li) may provide a semiconductor material for compact high-efficiency neutron detectors. A sub-branch of the III-V semiconductors, the filled tetrahedral compounds, known as Nowotny-Juza compounds (A I B II C V ), are desirable for their cubic crystal structure and semiconducting electrical properties. These compounds were originally studied for photonic applications. In the present work, Equimolar portions of Li, Zn, and P or As were sealed under vacuum (10 À 6 Torr) in quartz ampoules with a boron nitride lining, and loaded into a compounding furnace. The ampoule was heated to 200 1C to form the Li-Zn alloy, subsequently heated to 560 1C to form the ternary compound, LiZnP or LiZnAs, and finally annealed to promote crystallization. The chemical composition of the synthesized starting material was confirmed at Galbraith Laboratories, Inc. by Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES), which showed the compounds can be reacted in equal ratios, 1-1-1, to form ternary compounds. Recent additions to the procedure have produced higher yields, and greater synthesis reliability. Synthesized powders were also characterized by x-ray diffraction, where lattice constants of 5.751 7 .001 Å and 5.939 7.002 Å for LiZnP and LiZnAs, respectively, were determined.

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Neutron detection with mercuric iodide detectors

Cited by 19 publications

References 4 publications

Neutron detection with cryogenics and semiconductors

Neutron detection with cryogenics and semiconductors

Scintillation properties of semiconducting 6LiInSe2 crystals to ionizing radiation

Synthesis and characterization of LiZnP and LiZnAs semiconductor material

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