Directionality properties of the nGEM detector of the CNESM diagnostic system for SPIDER

Abstract

The ITER project requires additional heating by two neutral beam injectors, each accelerating up to 1 MV a 40 A beam of negative deuterium ions for one hour. Such requirements have never been reached, so it was decided to build in Padova a facility (PRIMA) that hosts two experimental devices: SPIDER, a 100 kV negative H/D RF beam source, and MITICA, a full-scale injector for the ITER NBI. SPIDER has begun operation in 2018, while MITICA is expected to start after 2020. In both devices the accelerated deuterium beam impinges on an actively cooled beam dump used to stop the deuterons. Detection of fusion neutrons produced between beam–deuterons and dump-embedded deuterons will be used as a means to resolve the horizontal beam intensity profile. A neutron detection system called Close-contact Neutron Emission Surface Mapping (CNESM) is installed right behind the SPIDER beam dump, with the aim to provide the neutron emission map of the beam dump surface. The core of this diagnostic system is an nGEM (neutron-Gas Electron Multiplier) detector which will be able to reconstruct the fast neutron beam profile with an efficiency of about 10−4. A crucial point in order to correctly reconstruct the profile of the deposited D− power is the directionality discrimination capability of the detector. This paper reports on the results of the characterization of the nGEM directionality capabilities, performed at the Frascati Neutron Generator (FNG) using 2.5 MeV neutrons, before installation of the detector inside the SPIDER vacuum vessel.