Development of resonant detectors for epithermal neutron spectroscopy at pulsed neutron sources

Abstract

New perspectives for epithermal neutron spectroscopy are opened by the development of new detectors for inverse geometry time of flight spectrometers at pulsed neutron sources. One example is the Very Low Angle Detector (VLAD) bank planned to be delivered, within the next 4 years, within the eVERDI project, on the neutron spectrometer VESUVIO, at the ISIS pulsed neutron source (UK). VLAD will extend the ( q, ω) kinematical region for neutron scattering to low wavefactor transfer ( q<10 Å −1) still keeping energy transfer >1 eV, thus allowing the investigations of new experimental studies in condensed matter systems. The technique being developed for detection of epithermal neutrons, within this low q and high-energy transfer region, is the Resonance Detection Technique. In this work, the state of the detector development will be presented with special focus on the results obtained with some prototype detectors, namely YAP scintillators and cadmium–zinc–telluride semiconductors.