Cryogenic detectors for advanced neutron sources

Abstract

Next-generation pulsed neutron sources using high-intensity proton accelerators have made a great deal of progress in Japan (J-PARC project), United States (SNS project), and United Kingdom (ISIS second target station project), where the peak intensity of the neutrons flux is expected to be an order of magnitude higher than the existing highest flux steady reactor in the Institut Laue-Langevin. The high-intensity pulsed neutron source would open up a possibility to use a micron-sized neutron beam, thus the neutron detectors with a high spatial resolution of a few micrometers and a temporal resolution of a few microseconds would be required. The cryogenic detectors using superconducting tunnel junctions or microcalorimeter would be key instruments to explore new sciences in such applications. Moreover, neutron detectors operating at a cryogenic temperature have an important role in physics research using fast neutrons or ultra-cold neutrons. In such applications, the microcalorimeters and the solid-state semiconductor detectors with neutron converters ( 6Li, 10B, 3He) have been developed. The cryogenic neutron detectors and their applications are reviewed in this report.