CASCADE - a multi-layer Boron-10 neutron detection system
M. Köhli, M. Klein, F. Allmendinger, A. -K. Perrevoort, T. Schröder, N. Martin, C. J. Schmidt, U. Schmidt
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8 pages, 11 figures. Submitted for publication in Journal of Physics: Conference Series, Proceedings of the European Conference on Neutron Scattering (ECNS2015)
The globally increased demand for helium-3 along with the limited availability of this gas calls for the development of alternative technologies for the large ESS instrumentation pool. We report on the CASCADE Project - a novel detection system, which has been developed for the purposes of neutron spin echo spectroscopy. It features 2D spatially resolved detection of thermal neutrons at high rates. The CASCADE detector is composed of a stack of solid boron-10 coated Gas Electron Multiplier foils, which serve both as a neutron converter and as an amplifier for the primary ionization deposited in the standard Argon-CO2 counting gas environment. This multi-layer setup efficiently increases the detection efficiency and serves as a helium-3 alternative. It has furthermore been possible to extract the signal of the charge traversing the stack to identify the very thin conversion layer of about 1 micrometer. This allows the precise determination of the time-of-flight, necessary for the application in MIEZE spin echo techniques.
We report on the development of a 10B conversion layer optimized for ultra-cold neutron detection with silicon detectors. The efficiency of this layer is high and roughly uniform over a large ultra-cold neutron velocity range. The designed titanium-boron-nickel multilayer film was deposited on silicon using a microwave plasma-assisted co-sputtering method (first, for test purpose, on silicon wafers, then directly on the surface of a CCD sensor). The obtained sensor was then tested using both cold and ultra-cold neutrons.
Prototypes of newly developed boron-coated straw (BCS) detectors have been tested in the thermal and cold neutron energy ranges. Their neutron detection performance has been benchmarked against the industry standard (detector tubes filled with 3He gas). The tests show that the BCS straws perform near their theoretical limit regarding the detection efficiency, which is adequate for scientific instruments in the cold neutron energy range. The BCS detectors perform on par with 3He tubes in terms of signal to noise and timing resolution, and superior regarding longitudinal spatial resolution.
A novel concept for position-sensitive thermal neutron detectors based on thin-gap Resistive Plate Chambers (RPC) lined with a neutron converter layer is presented and its feasibility is discussed. Several detector architectures implementing a stack of RPCs in multilayer and inclined geometries are introduced. The results of a Monte Carlo simulation study are presented demonstrating the effect of the main detector design parameters on the expected detection efficiency and spatial resolution.
The Multi-Blade is a Boron-10-based gaseous detector introduced to face the challenge arising in neutron reflectometry at pulsed neutron sources. Neutron reflectometers are the most challenging instruments in terms of instantaneous counting rate and spatial resolution. This detector has been designed to cope with the requirements set for the reflectometers at the upcoming European Spallation Source (ESS) in Sweden. Based on previous results obtained at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) in France, an improved demonstrator has been built at ESS and tested at the Budapest Neutron Centre (BNC) in H…
The results of an experimental feasibility study of a position sensitive thermal neutron detector based on a resistive plate chamber (RPC) are presented. The detector prototype features a thin-gap (0.35 mm) hybrid RPC with an aluminium cathode lined with a 2 $μ$m thick $^{10}B{_4}C$ neutron converter layer enriched in $^{10}B$ and a float glass anode. A detection efficiency of ${\approx}$ 6.2 ${\%}$ was measured for the neutron beam ($λ$ =2.5 $Å$) at normal incidence. A spatial resolution better than 0.5 mm FWHM was demonstrated.
Pebble bed reactors (PBRs) can improve the safety and economics of the nuclear energy production. PBRs rely on TRIstructural-ISOtropic (TRISO) fuel pebbles for enhanced fission product retention. Accurate characterization of individual fuel pebbles would enable the validation of computational models, efficient use of TRISO fuel, and improve fuel accountability. We have developed and tested a new neutron multiplicity counter (NMC) based on 192 boron coated straw (BCS) detectors optimized for ${}^{235}$U assay in TRISO fuel. The new design yielded a singles and doubles neutron detection efficien…
Nowadays neutron facilities are going toward higher fluxes, e.g. the European Spallation Source (ESS) in Lund (Sweden), and this translates into a higher demand in the instrument performances. Because of its favorable properties,He-3 has been the main actor in thermal neutron detection for years. Starting in about 2001 the He-3 stockpile has been declining. The world is now experiencing the shortage of He-3. This makes the construction of large area detectors (several squared meters) not realistic anymore. A way to reduce the He-3 demand for those applications is to move users to alternative t…
Organic scintillators doped with capture agents provide a detectable signal for neutrons over a broad energy range. This work characterizes the fast and slow neutron response of EJ-254, an organic plastic scintillator with 5% natural boron loading by weight. For fast neutrons, the primary mechanism for light generation in organic scintillators is n-p elastic scattering. To study the fast neutron response, the proton light yield of EJ-254 was measured at the 88-Inch Cyclotron at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Using a broad-spectrum neutron source and a double time-of-flight technique, t…
The last decade has witnessed the development of several alternative neutron detector technologies, as a consequence of upcoming neutron sources and upgrades, as well the world-wide shortage of $^3$He. One branch of development is the family of $^{10}$B-based gaseous detectors. This work focuses on the boron coated straws (BCS) by Proportional Technologies Inc., a commercial solution designed for use in homeland security and neutron science. A detailed Geant4 simulation study of the BCS is presented, which investigates various aspects of the detector performance, e.g. efficiency, activation, a…
This paper reports on the device processing and characterization of hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) based solid-state thermal neutron detectors, where hBN thickness varied from 2.5 to 15 microns. These natural hBN epilayers (with 19.9% B-10) were grown by a low pressure chemical vapor deposition process. Complete dry processing was adopted for the fabrication of these metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) configuration detectors. These detectors showed intrinsic thermal neutron detection efficiency values of 0.86%, 2.4%, 3.15%, and 4.71% for natural hBN thickness values of 2.5, 7.5, 10, and 15 microns…
The Multi-Blade is a Boron-10-based neutron detector designed for neutron reflectometers and developed for the two instruments (Estia and FREIA) planned for the European Spallation Source in Sweden. A reflectometry demonstrator has been installed at the AMOR reflectometer at the Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI - Switzerland). The setup exploits the Selene guide concept and it can be considered a scaled-down demonstrator of Estia. The results of these tests are discussed. It will be shown how the characteristics of the Multi-Blade detector are features that allow the focusing reflectometry operatio…
This article describes the design features and the first test measurements obtained during the installation of a novel high resolution 2D neutron detection technique. The technique proposed in this work consists of a boron layer (enriched in ${^{10}}$B) placed on a scientific Charge Coupled Device (CCD). After the nuclear reaction ${^{10}}$B(n,$α$)${^{7}}$Li, the CCD detects the emitted charge particles thus obtaining information on the neutron absorption position. The above mentioned ionizing particles, with energies in the range 0.5-5.5 MeV, produce a plasma effect in the CCD which is record…
Nowadays neutron scattering science is increasing its instrumental power. Most of the neutron sources in the world are pushing the development of their technologies to be more performing. The neutron scattering development is also pushed by the European Spallation Source (ESS) in Sweden, a neutron facility which has just started construction. Concerning small area detectors (1m^2), the 3He technology, which is today cutting edge, is reaching fundamental limits in its development. Counting rate capability, spatial resolution and cost-effectiveness, are only a few examples of the features that m…
The detector contains four or more layers of natural Boron absorbing thermal neutrons. Thickness of a layer is 0.4 - 1.2 mg/cm2. The layers are deposited on one or on both sides of a metal surface used as contacts. Between the absorbing layers there are gas-filled gaps 3 - 6 mm thick. Electric field of 100 - 200 V/cm is applied to the gas-filled gaps. Natural Boron contains almost 20% of 10B isotope. When atoms of 10B capture a thermal neutron, nuclear reaction occurs, as a result of which two heavy particles - alpha particle and ion 7Li - from the thin absorber layer are emitted in opposing s…
Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) is a neutron radiotherapy used to treat tumours cells previously doping with Boron-10. This therapy requires an epithermal neutron beam for the treatment of deep tumours and a thermal beam for shallow ones. Thanks to recent high-current commercial accelerators, Accelerator-Based Neutron Sources (ABNS) are competitive option for providing therapeutic neutron beams in hospitals. In this work, the neutron field generated by the $^7$Li(p,n)$^7$Be reaction at $1950~$keV is studied as neutron source in ABNS, being measured by the Time-Of-Flight (TOF) technique at…
In the last few years many detector technologies for thermal neutron detection have been developed in order to face the shortage of 3He, which is now much less available and more expensive. Moreover the 3He-based detectors can not fulfil the requirements in performance, e.g. the spatial resolution and the counting rate capability needed for the new instruments. The Boron-10-based gaseous detectors have been proposed as a suitable choice. This and other alternatives technologies are being developed at ESS. Higher intensities mean higher signals but higher background as well. The signal-to-backg…
Cold Neutron Imaging and Efficiency Measurements with a Boron-10 Coated Double-GEM Detector
Department of Physics, University of Seoul（首尔大学物理系）；University of Seoul（首尔大学）；Institute of Basic Sciences, Seoul National University（首尔大学基础科学研究院）；Seoul National University（首尔大学）；Department of Physics, University of Turin（都灵大学物理系）；University of Turin（都灵大学）
The 3He-based neutron detectors are no longer the default solution for neutron scattering applications. Both the inability of fulfilling the requirements in performance, needed for the new instruments, and the shortage of 3He, drove a series of research programs aiming to find new technologies for neutron detection. The characteristics of the new detector technologies have been extensively tested to prove their effectiveness with respect to the state-of-the-art technology. Among these, the background rejection capability is crucial to determine. The signal-to-background ratio is strongly relat…
High-energy physics detectors, like Low Gain Avalanche Detectors (LGADs) that will be used as fast timing detectors in the High Luminosity LHC experiments, have to exhibit a significant radiation tolerance. Thereby the impact of radiation on the highly boron-doped gain layer that enables the internal charge multiplication, is of special interest, since due to the so-called Acceptor Removal Effect (ARE) a radiation-induced deactivation of active boron dopants takes place. In this paper we present defect-spectroscopy measurements (Deep-Level Transient Spectroscopy and Thermally Stimulated Curren…
The boron-10 based Multi-Grid detector is being developed as an alternative to helium-3 based neutron detectors. At the European Spallation Source, the detector will be used for time-of-flight neutron spectroscopy at cold to thermal neutron energies. The objective of this work is to investigate fine time- and energy-resolved effects of the Multi-Grid detector, down to a few $μ$eV, while comparing it to the performance of a typical helium-3 tube. Furthermore, it is to characterize differences between the detector technologies in terms of internal scattering, as well as the time reconstruction o…
CMOS Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors (MAPS) are considered as an emerging technology in the field of charged particle tracking. They will be used in the vertex detectors of experiments like STAR, CBM and ALICE and are considered for the ILC and the tracker of ATLAS. In those applications, the sensors are exposed to sizeable radiation doses. While the tolerance of MAPS to ionizing radiation and fast hadrons is well known, the damage caused by low energy neutrons was not studied so far. Those slow neutrons may initiate nuclear fission of $^{10}$B dopants found in the B-doped silicon active mediu…
Multiple types of high quality neutron detectors are proposed for the first phase of the China Spallation Neutron Source (CSNS), which will be commissioned in 2018. Considering the shortage of 3He supply, a detector module composed of 49 boron-coated straws (BCS) was developed by Proportional Technologies Inc. (PTI). Each straw has a length of 1000 mm and a diameter of 7.5 mm. Seven straws are tightly packed in a tube, and seven tubes are organized in a row to form a detector module. The charge division method is used for longitudinal positioning. A specific readout system was utilized to outp…
The present supply of 3He can no longer meet the detector demands of the upcoming ESS facility and continued detector upgrades at current neutron sources. Therefore viable alternative technologies are required to support the development of cutting-edge instrumentation for neutron scattering science. In this context, 10B-based detectors are being developed by collaboration between the ESS, ILL, and Linköping University. This paper reports on progress of this technology and the prospects applying it in modern neutron scattering experiments. The detector is made-up of multiple rectangular gas cou…
Organic liquid scintillators are used in a wide variety of applications in experimental nuclear and particle physics. Boron-loaded scintillators are particularly useful for detecting neutron captures, due to the high thermal neutron capture cross section of $^{10}$B. These scintillators are commonly used in neutron detectors, including the DarkSide-50 neutron veto, where the neutron may produce a signal when it scatters off protons in the scintillator or when it captures on $^{10}$B. Reconstructing the energy of these recoils is complicated by scintillation quenching. Understanding how nuclear…
Bremsstrahlung photon beams produced by medical linear accelerators are currently the most commonly used method of radiation therapy for cancerous tumors. Photons with energies greater than 8-10 MeV potentially generate neutrons through photonuclear interactions in the accelerator's treatment head, patient's body, and treatment room ambient. Electrons impinging on a heavy target generate a cascade shower of bremsstrahlung photons, the energy spectrum of which shows an end point equal to the electron beam energy. By varying the target thickness, an optimum thickness exists for which, at the giv…
Study on the shielding efficiency of water, HDPE, and boron-loaded HDPE for neutron background of plastic scintillator neutrino detector
School of Physics, Sun Yat-sen University（中山大学物理学院）；Institut Franco-Chinois de l'Énergie Nucléaire , Sun Yat-sen University（中法核能学院，中山大学）；School of Science, Sun Yat-sen University（中山大学科学学院）
A new neutron detection concept is presented that is based on superconductive niobium (Nb) strips coated by a boron (B) layer. The working principle of the detector relies on the nuclear reaction 10B+n $\rightarrow$ $α$+ 7Li , with $α$ and Li ions generating a hot spot on the current-biased Nb strip which in turn induces a superconducting-normal state transition. The latter is recognized as a voltage signal which is the evidence of the incident neutron. The above described detection principle has been experimentally assessed and verified by irradiating the samples with a pulsed neutron beam at…
Far-ultraviolet (FUV) scintillation signals have been measured in heavy noble gases (argon, krypton, xenon) following boron-neutron capture ($^{10}$B($n,α$)$^7$Li) in $^{10}$B thin films. The observed scintillation yields are comparable to the yields from some liquid and solid neutron scintillators. At noble gas pressures of 107 kPa, the number of photons produced per neutron absorbed following irradiation of a 1200 nm thick $^{10}$B film was 14,000 for xenon, 11,000 for krypton, and 6000 for argon. The absolute scintillation yields from the experimental configuration were calculated using dat…
Neutron capture-induced nuclear recoils have emerged as an important tool for detector calibrations in direct dark matter detection and coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CE$ν$NS). $\texttt{nrCascadeSim}$ is a command-line tool for generating simulation data for energy deposits resulting from neutron capture on pure materials. Presently, silicon, germanium, neon, and argon are supported. While the software was developed for solid state detector calibration, it can be used for any application which requires simulated neutron capture-induced nuclear recoil data.
The properties of 60-μm thick Ultra-Fast Silicon Detectors (UFSD) detectors manufactured by Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK), Trento (Italy) were tested before and after irradiation with minimum ionizing particles (MIPs) from a 90Sr \b{eta}-source . This FBK production, called UFSD2, has UFSDs with gain layer made of Boron, Boron low-diffusion, Gallium, Carbonated Boron and Carbonated. The irradiation with neutrons took place at the TRIGA reactor in Ljubljana, while the proton irradiation took place at CERN SPS. The sensors were exposed to a neutron fluence of 4*10e14, 8*1014, 1.5*10e15, 3*10e15…
The Multi-Blade is a Boron-10-based gaseous detector developed for neutron reflectometry instruments at the European Spallation Source (ESS) in Sweden. The main challenges for neutron reflectometry detectors are the instantaneous counting rate and spatial resolution. The Multi-Blade has been tested on the CRISP reflectometer at the ISIS neutron and muon source in UK. A campaign of scientific measurements has been performed to study the Multi-Blade response in real instrumental conditions. The results of these tests are discussed in this manuscript.
The Multi-Blade is a Boron-10-based gaseous thermal neutron detector developed to face the challenge arising in neutron reflectometry at neutron sources. Neutron reflectometers are challenging instruments in terms of instantaneous counting rate and spatial resolution. This detector has been designed according to the requirements given by the reflectometers at the European Spallation Source (ESS) in Sweden. The Multi-Blade has been installed and tested on the CRISP reflectometer at the ISIS neutron and muon source in UK. The results on the detailed detector characterization are discussed in thi…
Amorphous boron carbide (B4C) thin films are by far the most popular form for the neutron converting layers in the 10B-based neutron detectors, which are a rising trend in detector technologies in response to the increasing scarcity and price of 3He, the standard material for neutron detection. The microstructure of the B4C films is closely related to the important properties, e.g. density and adhesion, for the converting layers, which eventually affect the detection efficiency and the long-term stability of the detectors. To study the influence from substrates of different roughness and mater…
$^{136}$Xe is a 0νββ decay candidate isotope, and is used in multiple experiments searching for this hypothetical decay mode. These experiments require precise information about neutron capture for their background characterization and minimization. Thermal and resonant neutron capture on $^{136}$Xe have been measured at the Detector for Advanced Neutron Capture Experiments (DANCE) at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center. A neutron beam ranging from thermal energy to greater than 100 keV was incident on a gas cell filled with isotopically pure $^{136}$Xe. The relative neutron capture cross se…
We present the results of the measurements of the detection efficiency for a 4.7 Å neutron beam incident upon a detector incorporating a stack of up to five MultiWire Proportional Counters (MWPC) with Boron-coated cathodes. The cathodes were made of Aluminum and had a surface exhibiting millimeter-deep V-shaped grooves of 45°, upon which the thin Boron film was deposited by DC magnetron sputtering. The incident neutrons interacting with the converter layer deposited on the sidewalls of the grooves have a higher capture probability, owing to the larger effective absorption film thickness. This …
Low Gain Avalanche Detectors (LGADs) are n-on-p silicon sensors with an extra p-layer below the collection electrode which provides signal amplification. When the primary electrons reach the amplification region new electron-hole pairs are created that enhance the generated signal. The moderate gain of these sensors, together with the relatively thin active region, provide precise time information for minimum ionizing particles. To mitigate the effect of pile-up at the HL-LHC the ATLAS and CMS experiments have chosen the LGAD technology for the High Granularity Timing Detector (HGTD) and for t…
Neutron scattering techniques offer a unique combination of structural and the dynamic information of atomic and molecular systems over a wide range of distances and times. The increasing complexity in science investigations driven by technological advances is reflected in the studies of neutron scattering science, which enforces a diversification and an improvement of experimental tools, from the instrument design to the detector performance. It calls as well for more advanced data analysis and modelling. The improvements in resolution, count rate and signal-to-background ratio, achievable wi…
Spatial resolution of less than 200 um is challenging for thermal neutron detection. A novel readout scheme based on the time-projection-chamber (TPC) concept is used in a gaseous electron multiplier (GEM) detector. Thermal neutrons are captured in a single 2 um thick Boron-10 converter cathode and secondary Helium and Lithium ions are produced with a combined energy of 2.8 MeV. These ions have sufficient energy to form straight tracks of several mm length. With a time resolving 2-dimensional readout of 400 um pitch in both directions, based on APV25 chips, the ions are tracked and their respe…
The study of transfer-induced gamma-decay probabilities is very useful for understanding the surrogate-reaction method and, more generally, for constraining statistical-model calculations. One of the main difficulties in the measurement of gamma-decay probabilities is the determination of the gamma-cascade detection efficiency. In [Nucl. Instrum. Meth. A 700, 59 (2013)] we developed the Extrapolated Efficiency Method (EXEM), a new method to measure this quantity. In this work, we have applied, for the first time, the EXEM to infer the gamma-cascade detection efficiency in the actinide region. …
We report on the development of a fast neutron detector using a liquid scintillator doped with enriched Li-6. The lithium was introduced in the form of an aqueous LiCl micro-emulsion with a di-isopropylnaphthalene-based liquid scintillator. A Li-6 concentration of 0.15 % by weight was obtained. A 125 mL glass cell was filled with the scintillator and irradiated with fission-source neutrons. Fast neutrons may produce recoil protons in the scintillator, and those neutrons that thermalize within the detector volume can be captured on the Li-6. The energy of the neutron may be determined by the li…
Traditional thermal neutron detectors are based on Helium-3 as conversion and detection material due to its large neutron cross-section. In light of the upgrade and construction of several neutron scattering facilities such as the European Spallation Source (ESS) and a simultaneous shortage of Helium-3, new detection technologies have been introduced. The most prominent one is to use solid converts with a large thermal neutron cross-section such as Gadolinium and Boron. Those materials emit charged particles when hit by a neutron. The technique then relies on detection and/or tracking of the c…
Detection of neutrons is becoming of the utmost importance, especially in the studies of radioactive waste and in homeland security applications. The crisis of 3He availability has required the development of innovative techniques. One solution is to develop light gas detectors for neutron counting to be used as portals for ports and airports. The neutron is converted on the Boron-coated cathode, releasing a charged particle, whose passage can be identified by the gas detector. While several technologies have been deployed in the past, the project μRANIA-V ( μRwell Advanced Neutron Identificat…
