Optimization of a bolometric neutron detector

Silver, C. S.; Beeman, J. W.; Piccirillo, L.; Timbie, Peter; Zhou, Jibo

doi:10.1016/s0168-9002(01)02146-5

Cited by 12 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Silver et al [24] report results obtained with a series of 6 LiF crystals ranging in mass from approximately 80 mg to 2.6 g, with the best resolution of 39 keV obtained with the 80 mg crystal operating at 323 mK. They exposed the 2.6 g crystal to neutrons and were able to observe pulses caused by thermal, 3.996, 5.167, and 7.223 MeV neutrons, the high-energy neutrons having been obtained from a D-D accelerator source.…”

Section: Cryogenic 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: Cryogenic Detectorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neutron detection with cryogenics and semiconductors

Bell

Carpenter

Cristy

et al. 2005

phys. stat. sol. (c)

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“…The live time was 11430 s, 39.2% of the irradiation time. Dead time is due to the thermal conductance G between the bolometer and the thermistor which, besides the heat capacity C of the bolometer, determines the characteristic time τ = C/G [14] and the required time to return to the work temperature, ∼50 ms for the bolometers of this work. Note that not only fast neutron interactions contribute to dead time, but also thermal neutron captures and other background events, as β and γ rays interactions, as well as the pulse processing of the acquisition system.…”

Section: Irradiation With 252 Cf Neutronsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Bolometers profit from the fact that the largest component of the released particles' kinetic energy produces heat and overcomes the low light yield of scintillators. Linearity of the heat signals was verified by irradiations of 6 LiF bolometers with monoenergetic neutrons from thermal energy up to 17 MeV [14,15]. However, heat signals are much longer (several ms) than light signals and high neutron fluxes cannot be assessed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neutron Spectrometry With Scintillating Bolometers of LiF and Sapphire

Coron

Cuesta

Garcı́a

et al. 2016

IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci.

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“…While neutron-emitting actinides can be identified even with low-energy resolution spectrometers, the presence of light-element inculsions like C, F or O in the actinide matrix can be detected from the unique elemental signatures resulting from neutron scattering and absorption resonances in the MeV energy range [5,6]. These measurements require high-energy resolution to detect the narrow resonances, which can be achieved at operating temperatures of $0.1 K [7,8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%