Temperature dependent characteristics of neutron signals from a current-biased Nb nanowire detector with ¹⁰B converter

Abstract

We are developing a new type of the neutron imager based on a superconducting neutron detector. We previously succeeded in constructing and demonstrating neutron detection capability of a superconducting current-biased kinetic inductance detector (CB-KID). In order to improve the spatial resolution and detection efficiency, the characteristics of a superconducting neutron detector have been studied systematically in the present work. As an extension of studying the characteristics of neutron detector, we investigated temperature dependence of neutron signal such as propagation velocity and the signal amplitude as a function of time of flight (ToF) with temperature. We consider that it is important to understand the temperature dependence of the signal to improve the spatial resolution and detection efficiency of a superconducting neutron detector.

Homogeneity of neutron transmission imaging over a large sensitive area with a four-channel superconducting detector

“…The number of events as a function of wavelength measured by using the Y meanderline (figure 7) reproduced well the known profile for neutrons at BL10 of the J-PARC facility [12]. Operating CB-KID at various different temperatures revealed that the number of counting events increased remarkably when the operating temperature increased to near the critical temperature of the meanderline [23]. This suggests that hot-spot sizes become larger than the repetition period of the meanderline at temperatures close to the critical temperature [23].…”

“…Operating CB-KID at various different temperatures revealed that the number of counting events increased remarkably when the operating temperature increased to near the critical temperature of the meanderline [23]. This suggests that hot-spot sizes become larger than the repetition period of the meanderline at temperatures close to the critical temperature [23]. We are currently considering how to increase the detection efficiency of simultaneous X and Y measurements of the meanderlines.…”

Narrow-area Bragg-edge transmission of iron samples using superconducting neutron sensor

“…One of the best superconducting neutron sensors was used for this experiment. The characteristics of the sensor were systematically investigated in a previous study [4,6]. The structure of a superconducting neutron sensor consists of a pair of meanderlines (X and Y sensors) [15][16][17] with an orthogonal stacking and a 10 B layer deposited on top of the X and Y meanderlines to convert neutrons into charged particles to make it easier to sense an electroneutral particle.…”

“…A neutron detector has three important parameters in the application of neutrons in material science, i.e., spatial resolution, neutron detection efficiency, and energy resolution. We first proposed the idea of a superconducting neutron sensor called a current-biased kinetic inductance detector (CB-KID) [3] and recently reported systematic investigations on its characteristics to optimize the operating conditions [4,5]. We can improve the detection efficiency of the detector by increasing the operating temperature of the superconducting detector to a critical temperature [6].…”

Monte Carlo radiation transport modelling of the current-biased kinetic inductance detector

“…The magnitudes of the simulated detection efficiencies are consequent from the design, geometry, materials and detection principles of CB-KID. The simulated detection efficiencies are upper bounds for the reality, as they did not consider other significant factors for the efficiency such as signal processing electronics, deadtime, heat transfer within CB-KID, bias current, and detector temperature [19]. The maximum calculated detection efficiency for hits on both X and Y meander lines was 11% for a cold 0.00068 eV neutron beam.…”