Development of a fast neutron monitoring detector for the NDPS neutron TOF facility by using Parallel Plate Avalanche Counters

Abstract

A Parallel Plate Avalanche Counter (PPAC) neutron monitoring detector was developed and manufactured to monitor fast neutrons with energies greater than ∼1 MeV for use in the Nuclear Data Production System (NDPS), a neutron Time-of-Flight (TOF) facility of RAON. The detectors designed for monitoring fast neutrons comprise two sets of PPACs and a fast neutron converter. The performance of the detector was tested by using a241Am alpha source and neutron beams from a proton cyclotron. For the fast neutron converter, a thin thorium coating with a diameter of 60 mm was prepared by using the electrodeposition method. The areal density of thorium deposited on a thin aluminium layer with a thickness of 2 μm was determined by alpha spectrometry and measured to be 306 ± 7.65 μg/cm2. For the neutron beam test, neutrons were generated through the 9Be (p,n)9B reaction in a proton cyclotron facility. These generated neutrons were detected by using our PPAC neutron detector, and the experimentally measured count rate (1.74 ± 0.18 counts/s) agreed with the count rate (1.68 counts/s) calculated by PHITS v3.16 and GEANT4 v10.7 simulations. The timing resolution of the detector was estimated to be σ = 550 ps. © 2024