Transcript Document

Neutron spectroscopy by time of flight method and
determination of neutron beam
December 20 2009
1 000 000
Calculated spectra
Measurements of Jan 20 2009
Neutron flux density a.u.
10 000
Prepared by:
100
1
0,01
Sameh Hassan ,
Yomna Abd El-Moaty
1E-4
1E-4
0,01
1
100
10 000
Energy, eV
Supervisors:
L Pikelner, V.Shvetsov
FLNP, Dubna
Summer Student Practice, 2009,
JINR Dubna
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Motivation
- Studying the processes of the interaction of slow neutrons with
nuclei ( 1- 105 ev)
-Radioactive capture with gamma emission is the most common type of
reaction at certain energies for slow neutrons.
This (n,) reaction often results in product nuclei which are radioactive.
For example:
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Co  n  Co *  Co  
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0
27
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So it is a method of studying dependence of neutron cross-section
on its energy.
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Targets and methods
For example to study total neutron cross-sections of tungsten
(W)
The time-of-flight (TOF) method is used to measure the
transmission of the sample
Sample
Size
[mm3]
Density
[g/cm3]
Atomic Mass
[a.m.u]
Purity
[%]
W
100x100x0.2
19.3
183.85
99.98
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The neutron Time of Flight (TOF) spectrum
8000
46.26[eV]
183
183
27.03[eV]
6000
Sample (W) Beam
Open Beam
Background
W
W
18.8[eV]
186
W
Counts
183
7.6[eV]
W
4.15[eV]
182
W
4000
2000
0
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
TOF Channels (2 s/ch)
Fig.1 ) The neutron TOF spectrum for sample-in and open beam along with background level of W sample
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Spectrum processing
The total neutron cross-section is determined by measuring the transmission of
neutrons through the samples.
Thus the neutron total cross-section is related to the neutron transmission rate
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T(E) as follows:  ( E )   ln T ( E )
N
N is the atomic density per cm2 in the sample.
T (E) 
[ N  BGS]
[ N0  BGO]
N and N0 are the foreground counts for the sample in (sample beam) and out
(open beam),
BGS and BGO are the background counts for sample in and out respectively.
The atomic density N in the sample can be calculated from the formula
N  (   t  N A ) / A[/ cm2 ]
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
By inserting the values of N and transmissions from the fig.1 we
measured the total cross-sections of the entire samples depending
on neutron energies.
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natural W (n,tot)
Present data
R.E.SCHMUNK
R.E.CHRIEN
J.A.HARVEY
W.SELOVE
ENDF/B-VI
Total Cross-Section in barn
10000
1000
100
10
1
0.1
0.01
0.1
1
10
100
Neutron Energy in eV

The measured cross-sections are compared with the evaluated ones
from ENDF/B-VI and some other published data
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Detection system
Our detection system for Ɣ rays emitted during
neutron capture is liquid scintillation detector
consists of six photo multiplier tubes surrounding
the sample
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Scintillation detector
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Transmission measurements
Sample
Source
Flight path L, m
dt
Detector
Collimator
L
 Lm 
En eV   5.227  10 3  



t

s


∆E= 2∆t
E
t
∆L
2
∆E = 2∆L
E
L
∆E= 2.77. 10 -2 ∆t(μs) E3/2
L(μs)
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nσ0Г/Δ
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Breit-Wigner formula for cross section
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c
E  E0 2  2 4
   / 2
2.86.10 9

cm
E (ev)
c
Capture cross section

:total resonance width
1000
100
10
1
0.1
0.01
 :width of neutron resonance
n
E
natural W (n,tot)
Present data
R.E.SCHMUNK
R.E.CHRIEN
J.A.HARVEY
W.SELOVE
ENDF/B-VI
10000
capture
Total Cross-Section in barn
    2  g 
 
n
0 :energy at the center of the resonance
0.1
1
10
100
Neutron Energy in eV
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Application of neutron cross section
1) Finding the neutron flux at certain energy
2) Determine resonance parameter ГƔ,Гn
0.1E (ev)

M
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Experiment
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Sample :Ta181
n = 1.5*1021 nuclei /cm2
Time of irradiation:360 min
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curve
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Results
Δ
4.3ev
nσ0Г/
Δ
A
∑N
n(E)ζƔ
flux
n(E)ζ/ flux
0.048
33
0.655
27558
4.8.104
7.5
0.64
10.3ev 0.0754
8.5
0.414
10640
2.7.104
3.3
0.82
13.95ev 0.0878
1.776
0.1756
3485
2.1.104
2.6
0.81
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Measured flux
7
10
6
10
5
10
4
10
2
n/cm /sec/eV
3
10
2
10
1
10
0
10
-1
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-2
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-3
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10
-5
10
10
-4
10
-3
10
-2
10
-1
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0
10
1
10
2
E, eV
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10
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Conclusion
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This method is good in measuring flux as we get almost the
same fraction in our three resonances
The relation between the energy and flux is inversely
proportional
Resonances are corresponding to the energy states in our
sample
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thanks
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