Neutron-Emission Measurements at a White Neutron Source

Abstract

Data on the spectrum of neutrons emittcd from neutron-induced reactions are important in basic nuclear physics and in applications. Our program studies neutron emission from inelastic scattering as well as fission neutron spectra. A ''white'' neutron source (continuous in energy) allows measurements over a wide range of neutron energies all in one experiment. We use the tast neutron source at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center for incident neutron energies from 0.5 MeV to 200 MeV These experiments are based on double time-of-flight techniques to determine the energies of the incident and emitted neutrons. For the fission neutron measurements, parallel-plate ionization or avalanche detectors identify fission in actinide samples and give the required fast timing pulse. For inelastic scattering, gamma-ray detectors provide the timing and energy spectroscopy. A large neutron-detector array detects the emitted neutrons. Time-of-flight techniques are used to measure the energies of both the incident and emitted neutrons. Design considerations for the array include neutron-gamma discrimination, neutron energy resolution, angular coverage, segmentation, detector efficiency calibration and data acquisition. We have made preliminary measurements of the fission neutron spectra from {sup 235}U, {sup 238}U, {sup 237}Np and {sup 239}Pu. Neutron emission spectra from inelastic scattering on iron and nickelmore » have also been investigated. The results obtained will be compared with evaluated data.« less