Measurement of neutron energy spectrum from241Am-B source using CR-39 detectors and an in-house image analysis program (autoTRAK_n)

Abstract

An attempt has been made in the present work to estimate the neutron spectrum of a standard 241 Am-B source using CR-39 solid polymeric track detector and an in-house image analysis program autoTRAK_n. The program works on the principle of greyscale variations in and around the recoil tracks and calculates the track parameters such as diameter, major, minor axes and estimates three dimensional parameters like recoil track depth and angular incidence. It is also capable of counting overlapping tracks without any segregation procedure. In the present study, the standard 241 Am-B neutron spectrum generated from the recoil track parameters with the autoTRAK_n program is compared with the reported values measured using the time of flight method and found to be matching well, mainly at the characteristic peak. The total neutron fluence and dose equivalents are also determined with the program and are compared with the standard source measurements. The results obtained from autoTRAK_n are found to be in close agreement with the standard measurements with less than 5% error for both the parameters. Hence, this methodology can be used as a backup technique for neutron spectrum measurements along with other techniques considering its low cost, small size, easy irradiation, and processing.