Development of a neutron imager based on superconducting detectors

Abstract

We succeeded in demonstrating a neutron detector based on a Nb superconducting meander line with a 10B conversion layer for a neutron imager based on superconductor devices. We use a current-biased kinetic inductance detector (CB-KID), which is composed of a meander line, for detection of a neutron with high spatial resolution and fast response time. The thickness of Nb meander lines is 40 nm and the line width is narrower than 3 mu m. The area of 8 mm × 8 mm is covered by CB-KIDs, which are assembled at the center of the Si chip of the size 22 mm × 22 mm. The Nb CB-KIDs with a 10B conversion layer output the voltage by irradiating pulsed neutrons. We have investigated γ/n discrimination of a Nb-based CB-KID with 10B conversion layer using a Cd plate, which indicates that a CB-KID can operate as a neutron detector under the strong γ-ray fields.