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

Brock, Mette Bybjerg; Lai, Chung-Chuan; Abrahamsen, Asger Bech; Robinson, L.; Kanaki, K.; Hall-Wilton, R.; Wulff, Anders Christian; Kuhn, Luise Theil

doi:10.1109/tasc.2022.3145322

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…A reduction in the superconducting transition temperature, and an increase of the transition width, was previously demonstrated to be an indirect result of the boron carbide layer deposition process. [ 6 ] A widening of the transition curve leads to lower dR/dT values and thereby decreased sensitivity. Absorption of the laser power directly in the superconducting layers rather than in an absorption layer, can also cause a difference in response.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effective Thermal Properties of a HTS Transition Edge Bolometer for High‐Flux Neutron Detection

Brock,

Østergaard,

Wulff

et al. 2023

Adv Elect Materials

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Many applications require monitoring of increasingly high neutron flux levels. Pre‐neutron characterization is performed of a superconducting transition edge bolometric device, sensitive to neutrons by an enriched boron carbide (10B4C) layer. Heat from the absorption of neutrons is simulated using an attenuated laser, while the detector is cooled to the critical temperature, Tc. Frequency dependent (4–25 Hz) and constant input power measurements are performed on a 10B4C‐coated and a non‐coated pixel. Results are used to fit a two lumped element thermal model. The effective specific heat is highly dependent on the input pulse duration due to the interconnected stack structure. For modulated pulses, the active volume in the thermal circuit is the full depth of the substrate in the area under the pixel. For constant power input, a large portion of the substrate is heated and the interface conductivities to the cold finger are found to be important. The detectivity is D* = 3.5 × 108 , and is only slightly lower than similar detectors. Understanding the dynamics of the detector better and using neutron excitation, it is expected that optimizations can lead to an equally good detector for cold to thermal neutrons at flux levels >106 n cm−2s−1.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…al. [ 6 ] Two types of pixels were tested ‐ one with the enriched boron carbide layer ( P sc‐b ) deposited on top of the superconductor pixel and one that was not coated ( P sc ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effective Thermal Properties of a HTS Transition Edge Bolometer for High‐Flux Neutron Detection

Brock,

Østergaard,

Wulff

et al. 2023

Adv Elect Materials

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“…The ESS coating facility specialized in the coating of the 10 B 4 C converter layers on substrates made of Aluminium, but important expertise was gained in the past years with low-temperature Boron depositions [71] and on various substrate materials such as FR4, G10, Kapton, stainless steel, silicon or superconducting materials [13,54].…”

Section: The Ess Coating Facility For Thin 10 B 4 C Layersmentioning

confidence: 99%

10Boron-film-based gas detectors at ESS

Stefanescu,

Guérard,

Hall-Wilton

et al. 2024

JNR

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The development of detectors for the European Spallation Source is an important parallel element to the effort put into the design and construction of the neutron source and instruments. The 10Boron-film-based detector developments that started over a decade ago as basic detector concepts have now reached technical maturity after intense prototyping work and numerous testing campaigns. Several of the ESS beamlines that will soon enter the commissioning phase started welcoming the detector systems built with the 10B-film converter technology. The real-size demonstrators evolved in the last 2–3 years into a diverse suite of gas proportional counters for use in diffraction, reflectometry and small-angle scattering studies in spite of the operational complexity posed by the requirements for large-area coverage, low material budget and robustness for operation in the high-flux and high-radiation environment of ESS. The detectors are now being shipped to ESS or undergoing the last performance and calibration tests before being handed over to the instrument teams for installation in the host beamlines. A common feature of these detector systems is the very large number of readout channels that they are instrumented with in order to fulfill the demanding requirements for sensitivity, spatial resolution and count-rate capability. Across all of the detector types that will operate at ESS, the integration, testing and commissioning of the read-out technologies and software tools for data reduction, calibration and analysis are the focus of the detector and integration teams. These will yield a wealth of knowledge about their operation as well as initial results on the in-situ performance, a very important asset to ensure rapid commissioning of the detectors when neutrons from the ESS source become available. In this paper we will give an overview of the 10B-film-based detector technologies included in the ESS detector suite that are currently facing the transition from the production phase to installation and integration with the other beamline components, which comes with its own specific challenges of both organizational and technical nature.

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Superconducting transition edge bolometer for high-flux neutron detection

Brock,

Østergaard,

Busi

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

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Needs for neutron detection and monitoring in high neutron flux environments are increasing in several different fields. A completely solid-state, current mode bolometric detector is constructed as a solid substrate transition edge sensor based on a high-T$$_c$$ c superconducting meander. The detector consists of four individual pixels of which three pixels include $${^{10}{\hbox {B}}_{4}\hbox {C}}$$ 10 B 4 C neutron absorption layers. The absorbed energy per neutron absorption reaction is modelled and compared to experimental data. The response of the tested detector is directly correlated to a cold neutron beam with a flux of $${1.8\times 10^{8}}\,{\hbox {n}/{\hbox {cm}}^2/\hbox {s}}$$ 1.8 × 10 8 n / cm 2 / s modulated by a slit. The signal is found to be an order of magnitude higher than the thermal background. The dynamics described by the temporal saturation constants is governed by a modulation frequency less than $${1}\hbox { Hz}$$ 1 Hz . The thermal response is dynamic and never fully saturates for $${50}\hbox { s}$$ 50 s exposures. The efficiency for this proof-of-principle design is 1–2%. Possibilities for optimization are identified, that will increase the efficiency to become comparable to existing solid boron-10 detectors. The existing detectors with event-based read-out have limited functionality in high flux environments. The superconducting bolometer described in this work using current-mode readout will pave the way for high flux applications.

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

Cited by 4 publications

References 14 publications

Effective Thermal Properties of a HTS Transition Edge Bolometer for High‐Flux Neutron Detection

Effective Thermal Properties of a HTS Transition Edge Bolometer for High‐Flux Neutron Detection

10Boron-film-based gas detectors at ESS

Superconducting transition edge bolometer for high-flux neutron detection

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