ABSTRACT
The pulse shape discrimination (PSD) characteristic and neutron detection efficiency of NE213 detectors have been measured for their application in moisture measurements using 252Cf and 241Am-Be sources. In PSD studies, neutron peak to valley (Pn/V) ratio and figure of merit M were measured at four different bias values for cylindrical 50, 125 and 250 mm diameter NE213 detectors. The result of this study has shown that better PSD performance with the NE213 detector can be achieved with a smaller volume detector in conjunction with a neutron source with smaller gamma-ray/neutron ratio. The neutron detection efficiency of the 125 mm diameter NE213 detector for 241Am-Be and 252Cf source spectra was determined at 0.85, 1.25 and 1.75 MeV bias energies using the experimental neutron detection efficiency data of the same detector over 0.1-10 MeV energy range. Due to different energy spectra of the 241Am-Be and 252Cf sources, integrated efficiency of the 125 mm diameter NE213 detector for the two sources shows bias dependence. At smaller bias, 252Cf source has larger efficiency but as the bias is increased, the detector has larger efficiency for 241Am-Be source. This study has revealed that NE213 detector has better performance (such as PSD and neutron detection efficiency) in simultaneous detection of neutron and gamma-rays in moisture measurements, if it is used in conjunction with 241Am-Be source at higher detector bias.
ABSTRACT
3He and 2H targets were fabricated through implantation of 3He and 2H ions in 0.2-0.3 mm thick tantalum and titanium foils. The energy of 3He and 2H ions was 45-100 and 78 keV, respectively. Ions beams with typical current of 90-300 microA were used for implantation. Stability tests of 3He and 2H targets were carried out by monitoring the yield of 3He(d, p)4He and 2H(d, p)3H reactions. For the 3He target, the reaction yield was stable for both tantalum and titanium foils but the most stabilized maximum yield was observed for the 100 keV tantalum target. In the case of 2H targets, the yield increased with increasing total dose implanted on the target.
