In search of nano-materials with enhanced secondary electron emission for radiation detectors.

There has been limited research devoted to secondary electron emission (SEE) from nano-materials using rapid and heavy ion bombardment. Here we report a comparison of SEE properties between novel nano-materials with a three-dimensional nano-structure composed of a mostly regular pattern of rods and gold used as a standard material for SEE under bombardment of heavy ions at energies of a few MeV/nucleon. The nano-structured materials show enhanced SEE properties when compared with gold. Results from this work will enable the development of new radiation detectors for science and industry.

PGAA, PGAI and NT with cold neutrons: test measurement on a meteorite sample.

First comprehensive analysis with PGAA, Prompt Gamma-ray Activation Imaging (PGAI) and neutron tomography (NT) techniques at the research reactor FRM II was tested on a piece of the Allende meteorite. With the PGAA method the bulk elemental composition of the heterogeneous meteorite was determined. Due to the small dimension of the sample, only the 2D elemental distribution of the object was derived with position sensitive PGAI analysis. As an example 2D maps for Si, Fe and Mg are presented. Neutron tomography of the meteorite was carried out with the same cold neutron beam.