A new measurement of the neutron detection efficiency for the NaI Crystal Ball detector
M. Martemianov, V. Kulikov, B. T. Demissie, Z. Marinides, C. S. Akondi, J. R. M. Annand, H. J. Arends, R. Beck, N. Borisov, A. Braghieri, W. J. Briscoe, S. Cher… 展开作者
M. Martemianov, V. Kulikov, B. T. Demissie, Z. Marinides, C. S. Akondi, J. R. M. Annand, H. J. Arends, R. Beck, N. Borisov, A. Braghieri, W. J. Briscoe, S. Cherepnya, C. Collicott, S. Costanza, E. J. Downie, M. Dieterle, M. I. Ferretti Bondy, L. V. Filkov, S. Garni, D. I. Glazier, D. Glowa, W. Gradl, G. Gurevich, D. Hornidge, G. M. Huber, A. Kaeser, V. L. Kashevarov, I. Keshelashvili, R. Kondratiev, M. Korolija, B. Krusche, A. Lazarev, J. M. Linturi, V. Lisin, K. Livingston, I. J. D. MacGregor, D. M. Manley, P. P. Martel, D. G. Middleton, R. Miskimen, A. Mushkarenkov, A. Neganov, A. Neiser, M. Oberle, M. Ostrick, P. Ott, P. B. Otte, B. Oussena, P. Pedroni, A. Polonski, S. Prakhov, G. Ron, T. Rostomyan, A. Sarty, D. M. Schott, S. Schumann, V. Sokhoyan, O. Steffen, I. I. Strakovsky, Th. Strub, I. Supek, M. Thiel, A. Thomas, M. Unverzagt, Yu. A. Usov, S. Wagner, D. P. Watts, J. Wettig, D. Werthmuller, L. Witthauer, M. Wolfes
We report on a measurement of the neutron detection efficiency in NaI crystals in the Crystal Ball detector obtained from a study of single p0 photoproduction on deuterium using the tagged photon beam at the Mainz Microtron. The results were obtained up to a neutron energy of 400 MeV. They are compared to previous measurements made more than 15 years ago at the pion beam at the BNL AGS.
Novel NaIL detector (5x6 inch) was investigated for aims of neutron detection in wide energy range. It has been found that the detector together with its known ability to detect the γ- radiation is also allows to distinguish neutron signals in three quasi-independent ways. It sensitive to neutron fluxes on a level down to $10^{-3}$ $cm^{-2}$ $s^{-1}$. In the work intrinsic α- background and neutron detection efficiency for the NaIL detector were obtained. Experimental data was compared with results of Geant4 Monte Carlo (MC).
Among the direct search experiments for weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter, the DAMA experiment observed an annual modulation signal interpreted as WIMP interactions with a significance of 9.2$σ$. Recently, Jonathan Davis claimed that the DAMA modulation may be interpreted on the basis of the neutron scattering events induced by the muons and neutrinos together. We tried to simulate the neutron backgrounds at the Gran Sasso and Yangyang laboratory with and without the polyethylene shielding to quantify the effects of the ambient neutrons on the direct detection experiments …
Radionuclide Identification Devices (RIDs) or Backpack Radiation Detection Systems (BRDs) are often equipped with NaI(Tl) detectors. We demonstrate that such instruments could be provided with reasonable thermal- and fast-neutron sensitivity by means of an improved and sophisticated processing of the digitized detector signals: Fast neutrons produce nuclear recoils in the scintillation crystal. Corresponding signals are detectible and can be distinguished from that of electronic interactions by pulse-shape discrimination (PSD) techniques as used in experiments searching for weakly interacting …
The production of radioactive isotopes by interactions of cosmic-ray particles with sodium iodide (NaI) crystals can produce radioactive backgrounds in detectors used to search for rare events. Through controlled irradiation of NaI crystals with a neutron beam that matches the cosmic-ray neutron spectrum, followed by direct counting and fitting the resulting spectrum across a broad range of energies, we determined the integrated production rate of several long-lived radioisotopes. The measurements were then extrapolated to determine the sea-level cosmogenic neutron activation rate, including t…
PoGOLino is a balloon-borne scintillator-based experiment developed to study the largely unexplored high altitude neutron environment at high geomagnetic latitudes. The instrument comprises two detectors that make use of LiCAF, a novel neutron sensitive scintillator, sandwiched by BGO crystals for background reduction. The experiment was launched on March 20th 2013 from the Esrange Space Centre, Northern Sweden (geomagnetic latitude of $65^\circ$), for a three hour flight during which the instrument took data up to an altitude of 30.9 km. The detector design and ground calibration results are …
Development of a Modular Current-Mode NaI(Tl) Detector Array for Parity Odd (n,γ) Cross Section Measurements
Indiana University（印第安纳大学）；Eastern Kentucky University（东肯塔基大学）；Los Alamos National Laboratory（洛斯阿拉莫斯国家实验室）；Nagoya University（名古屋大学）；Japan Atomic Energy Agency（日本原子能机构）；University of Kentucky（肯塔基大学）
We have studied neutron response of PARIS phoswich [LaBr$_3$(Ce)-NaI(Tl)] detector which is being developed for measuring the high energy (E$_γ$ = 5 - 30 MeV) $γ$ rays emitted from the decay of highly collective states in atomic nuclei. The relative neutron detection efficiency of LaBr$_3$(Ce) and NaI(Tl) crystal of the phoswich detector has been measured using the time-of-flight (TOF) and pulse shape discrimination (PSD) technique in the energy range of E$_n$ = 1 - 9 MeV and compared with the GEANT4 based simulations. It has been found that for E$_n$ $>$ 3 MeV, $\sim$ 95 \% of neutrons have t…
This letter explains a new, highly sensitive method for the detection of neutrons, which uses the T$_{1/2}=845$ ns delay in the decay of $^{128}$I at the 137.8 keV energy level, resulting from the capture of thermal neutrons by iodine nuclei in NaI and CsI scintillation detectors. The use of delayed coincidence techniques with a several $μ{\rm s}$ time frame for delayed events allows for the highly effective discrimination of neutron events from any existing background signals. A comparison of ambient neutron measurements between those identified through the suggested method from a cylindrical…
We present preliminary results of measurements of the quenching factor for Na recoils in NaI(Tl) at room temperature, made at a dedicated neutron facility at the University of Sheffield. Measurements have been performed with a 2.45 MeV mono-energetic neutron generator in the energy range from 10 keV to 100 keV nuclear recoil energy. A BC501A liquid scintillator detector was used to tag neutrons. Cuts on pulse-shape discrimination from the BC501A liquid scintillator detector and neutron time-of-flight were performed on pulses recorded by a digitizer with a 2 ns sampling time. Measured quenching…
Measurements of the quenching factor for sodium recoils in a 5 cm diameter NaI(Tl) crystal at room temperature have been made at a dedicated neutron facility at the University of Sheffield. The crystal has been exposed to 2.45 MeV mono-energetic neutrons generated by a Sodern GENIE 16 neutron generator, yielding nuclear recoils of energies between 10 and 100 keVnr. A cylindrical BC501A detector has been used to tag neutrons that scatter off sodium nuclei in the crystal. Cuts on pulse shape and time of flight have been performed on pulses recorded by an Acqiris DC265 digitiser with a 2 ns sampl…
PoGOLino is a scintillator-based neutron detector. Its main purpose is to provide data on the neutron flux in the upper stratosphere at high latitudes at thermal and nonthermal energies for the PoGOLite instrument. PoGOLite is a balloon borne hard X-ray polarimeter for which the main source of background stems from high energy neutrons. No measurements of the neutron environment for the planned flight latitude and altitude exist. Furthermore this neutron environment changes with altitude, latitude and solar activity, three variables that will vary throughout the PoGOLite flight. PoGOLino was d…
A new concept for thermal neutron based correlation and multiplicity measurements is proposed in this paper. The main idea of the concept consists of using 2.223 MeV gammas (or 1.201 MeV, DE) originating in the 1H(n,gamma)2D-reaction instead of using traditional thermal neutron counting. Results of investigations presented in this paper indicate that gammas from thermal neutron capture reaction preserve the information about the correlation characteristics of thermal (fast) neutrons in the same time scale. Therefore, instead of thermal neutron detectors (or as a complement) one may use traditi…
We have performed measurements of sodium nuclear recoils in NaI:Tl crystals, following scattering by neutrons produced in a $^{7}$Li(p,n)$^{7}$Be reaction. Understanding the light output from such recoils, which is reduced relative to electrons of equivalent energy by the quenching factor, is critical to interpret dark matter experiments that search for nuclear scattering interactions. We have developed a spectrum-fitting methodology to extract the quenching factor from our measurements, and report quenching factors for nuclear recoil energies between 36 and 401 keV. Our results agree with oth…
The cosmogenic production of long-lived radioactive isotopes in materials is an hazard for experiments demanding ultra-low background conditions. Although NaI(Tl) scintillators have been used in this context for a long time, very few activation data were available. We present results from two 12.5 kg NaI(Tl) detectors, developed within the ANAIS project and installed at the Canfranc Underground Laboratory. The prompt data taking starting made possible a reliable quantification of production of some I, Te and Na isotopes with half-lives larger than ten days. Initial activities underground were …
Ballistic neutron guides are efficient for neutron transport over long distances, and in particular elliptically shaped guides have received much attention lately. However, elliptic neutron guides generally deliver an inhomogeneous divergence distribution when used with a small source, and do not allow kinks or curvature to avoid a direct view from source to sample. In this article, a kinked double-elliptic solution is found for neutron transport to a small sample from a small (virtual) source, as given e.g. for instruments using a pinhole beam extraction with a focusing feeder. A guide consis…
Scintillation crystals are commonly used for direct detection of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), which are suitable candidates for a particle dark matter. It is well known that the scintillation light yields are different for electron recoil and nuclear recoil. To calibrate the energies of WIMP-induced nuclear recoil signals, the quenching factor (QF) needs to be measured, which is the light yield ratio of the nuclear recoil to electron recoil. Measurements of the QFs for Na and I recoils in a small (2 cm x 2 cm x 1.5 cm) NaI(Tl) crystal are performed with 2.43-MeV mono-energetic…
Scintillators capable of detecting both neutrons and gamma-rays have generated considerable interest. In particular, the use of such scintillators with silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) enables low-power and compact-geometry applications. Three types of Li-loaded scintillators, CLYC, CLLB, and NaIL, have been tested with a custom-designed SiPM array for temperatures between --20 and 50$^{\circ}$C. The array consists of four 6x6~mm$^2$ SiPMs arranged in a 2x2 configuration. Pulse shape discrimination is used for neutron and gamma identification. Because the pulse shape changes with temperature, …
Modern, nonlinear ballistic neutron guides are an attractive concept in neutron beam delivery and instrumentation, because they offer increased performance over straight or linearly tapered guides. However, like other ballistic geometries they have the potential to create significantly non-trivial instrumental resolution functions. We address the source of the most prominent optical aberration, namely coma, and we show that for extended sources the off-axis rays have a different focal length from on-axis rays, leading to multiple reflections in the guide system. We illustrate how the interplay…
The COHERENT collaboration is deploying a suite of low-energy detectors in a low-background corridor of the ORNL Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) to measure coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS) on an array of nuclear targets employing different detector technologies. A measurement of CEvNS on different nuclei will test the $N^2$-dependence of the CEvNS cross section and further the physics reach of the COHERENT effort. The first step of this program has been realized recently with the observation of CEvNS in a 14.6 kg CsI detector. Operation and deployment of Ge and NaI detector…
A neutron detector based on EJ301 liquid scintillator has been employed at EAST to measure the neutron energy spectrum for D-D fusion plasma. The detector was carefully characterized in different quasi-monoenergetic neutron fields generated by a 4.5 MV Van de Graaff accelerator. In recent experimental campaigns, due to the low neutron yield at EAST, a new shielding device was designed and located as close as possible to the tokamak to enhance the count rate of the spectrometer. The fluence of neutrons and gamma-rays was measured with the liquid neutron spectrometer and was consistent with 3He …
We analyzed the response of NaI(Tl) to low energy nuclear recoils in the experiment that is reported on here. Such detectors have been used recently to search for evidence of dark matter in the form of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). Understanding the response of these detectors to low energy nuclear recoils is crucial in these searches. We have measured nuclear recoils and associated quenching factors (QF) for sodium recoils in the energy range of 8 keV - 48 keV. The results are characterized by a decrease in QF as the recoil energy decreases. The measured values are significant…
A monitoring system for fast neutrons is planned in the COSINE experiment, a dark matter experiment with NaI crystals. We pursued several R&D approaches for a neutron detector using a liquid scintillator (LS). A pulse shape discrimination (PSD) technique is used for the identification of neutron events and the PSD properties of two different LS were compared. A good separation power between neutrons and $γ$ has been achieved for energies between 200 keVee to 1500 keVee. The combination of alumina adsorption, filtration, and water extraction is effective in purifying the LS, which leads to a re…
We report on the response of a high light-output NaI(Tl) crystal to nuclear recoils induced by neutrons from an Am-Be source and compare the results with the response to electron recoils produced by Compton scattered 662 keV $γ$-rays from a $^{137}$Cs source. The measured pulse-shape discrimination (PSD) power of the NaI(Tl) crystal is found to be significantly improved because of the high light output of the NaI(Tl) detector. We quantify the PSD power with a quality factor and estimate the sensitivity to the interaction rate for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) with nucleons, and …
The dark matter interpretation of the DAMA modulation signal depends on the NaI(Tl) scintillation efficiency of nuclear recoils. Previous measurements for Na recoils have large discrepancies, especially in the DAMA/LIBRA modulation energy region. We report a quenching effect measurement of Na recoils in NaI(Tl) from 3keV$_{\text{nr}}$ to 52keV$_{\text{nr}}$, covering the whole DAMA/LIBRA energy region for light WIMP interpretations. By using a low-energy, pulsed neutron beam, a double time-of-flight technique, and pulse-shape discrimination methods, we obtained the most accurate measurement of…
We present the responses of a NaI(Tl) crystal in terms of the light yield and pulse shape characteristics of nuclear recoil events at two different temperatures: 22 C (room temperature) and -35 C (low temperature). The light yield is measured using 59.54 keV gamma-rays using a 241Am source relative to the mean charge of single photoelectrons. At the low temperature, we measure a 4.7 +/- 1.3% increase in the light yield compared to that at room temperature. A significantly increased decay time is also observed at the low temperature. The responses to nuclear recoil events are measured using neu…
Investigated in this work were sensitivities of a prototype detector for the detection of low-mass dark matter particles produced at the Spallation Neutron Source at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in two years of data taking. The presumed prototype consisted of 10 kg undoped CsI or NaI scintillation crystals directly coupled with SiPM arrays operated at 77 K. Compared to the COHERENT CsI(Na) detector, a much higher light yield was assumed for the prototype. An experiment with a cylindrical 1~kg undoped CsI crystal coupled directly to two photomultiplier tubes at about 77~K was conducted as …
The production of long-lived radioactive isotopes in materials due to the exposure to cosmic rays on Earth surface can be an hazard for experiments demanding ultra-low background conditions, typically performed deep underground. Production rates of cosmogenic isotopes in all the materials present in the experimental set-up, as well as the corresponding cosmic rays exposure history, must be both well known in order to assess the relevance of this effect in the achievable sensitivity of a given experiment. Although NaI(Tl) scintillators are being used in experiments aiming at the direct detectio…
DTAS is a segmented total absorption γ-ray spectrometer developed for the DESPEC experiment at FAIR. It is composed of up to eighteen NaI(Tl) crystals. In this work we study the performance of this detector with laboratory sources and also under real experimental conditions. We present a procedure to reconstruct offline the sum of the energy deposited in all the crystals of the spectrometer, which is complicated by the effect of NaI(Tl) light-yield non-proportionality. The use of a system to correct for time variations of the gain in individual detector modules, based on a light pulse generato…
Time-over-threshold measurements of the output of a first order integration amplifier can be used as a cheap way to estimate the charge deposited on a wire in an MWPC. Even if the time scale of the first order system is seemingly much larger than the signal development time, we noticed experimentally a significant deviation from the relationship of time-over-threshold and the charge, as would be naively expected from the exponential response of the amplifier. We strongly suspect the current induced by the residual ion movement to be at least partially responsible for this observation. It is of…
One of the key requirements for neutron scattering instruments is the Signal-to-Background ratio (SBR). This is as well a design driving requirement for many instruments at the European Spallation Source (ESS), which aspires to be the brightest neutron source of the world. The SBR can be effectively improved with background reduction. The Multi-Grid, a large-area thermal neutron detector with a solid boron carbide converter, is a novel solution for chopper spectrometers. This detector will be installed for the three prospective chopper spectrometers at the ESS. As the Multi-Grid detector is a …
The spectrum of cosmogenic neutrons at Earth's surface covers a wide energy range, from thermal to several GeV. The flux of secondary neutrons varies with latitude, elevation, solar activity, and nearby material, including ground moisture. We report the results from a campaign to measure count rates in neutron detectors responding to three different energy ranges conducted near the geomagnetic North Pole at CFS Alert, Nunavut, Canada (82.5 degrees , 62.5 degrees W; vertical geomagnetic cutoff rigidity, RC = 0 GV) in June of 2016. In November 2016, we performed a follow-on measurement campaign …
