Accession Number:

ADA582075

Title:

Neutron Spectroscopy Using LiF Thin-Film Detectors

Descriptive Note:

Master's thesis

Corporate Author:

AIR FORCE INST OF TECH WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB OH GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT

Personal Author(s):

• Ford, Michael A.

Report Date:

2013-03-01

Pagination or Media Count:

137.0

Abstract:

A stacked array of segmented micro-structured semiconductor neutron detectors MSNDs has been fabricated to perform as a neutron spectrometer simultaneously capable of differentiating fast and thermal neutrons. The MSND devices consist of thin-film perforated diodes constructed from LiF powder back-filled into an etched silicon wafer. Geant4 simulations demonstrate than an eight-layer spectrometer consisting of alternating layers of MSND and hydrogenous moderator can successfully resolve neutron energies at a resolution dependent upon the number of layers and the thickness of the adjacent moderating materials. The simulated spectrometer response was compared to that obtained experimentally with mono-energetic neutrons from a DD neutron generator. The commissioning tests of the spectrometer reveal that the energy of a mono-energetic neutron source can be identified to within or -1 MeV. Following the commissioning tests, the spectrometer was used to characterize the poly-energetic neutron spectrum of a plutonium-beryllium neutron source.

Descriptors:

• *NEUTRON DETECTORS
• DETECTION
• NEUTRONS
• SPECTROMETERS
• SPECTROSCOPY
• THESES

Subject Categories:

• Nuclear Instrumentation
• Atomic and Molecular Physics and Spectroscopy
• Nuclear Physics and Elementary Particle Physics

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE