Abstract

The last decade has witnessed the development of several alternative neutron detector technologies, as a consequence of upcoming neutron sources and upgrades, as well the world-wide shortage of $^3$He. One branch of development is the family of $^{10}$B-based gaseous detectors. This work focuses on the boron coated straws (BCS) by Proportional Technologies Inc., a commercial solution designed for use in homeland security and neutron science. A detailed Geant4 simulation study of the BCS is presented, which investigates various aspects of the detector performance, e.g. efficiency, activation, absorption and the impact of scattering on the measured signal. The suitability of the BCS detector for Small Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS), direct chopper spectrometry and imaging is discussed.

Highlights

  • For many years 3He-based detectors have been dominant in the field of neutron scattering science, as they satisfied scientific requirements and 3HePreprint submitted to Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section ANovember 26, 2021 was available in sufficient quantities at an affordable price

  • The situation has changed in recent years due to the worldwide 3He crisis [1, 2] that necessitated the development of alternative neutron detector technologies based on 10B4C [3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9], 6LiF [10, 11, 12] and scintillators [13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20]

  • The latter could be done with multiple simulations using different models with the materials out of focus replaced with vacuum to eliminate their effect on each other, but these effects change the results by

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Summary

Introduction

For many years 3He-based detectors have been dominant in the field of neutron scattering science, as they satisfied scientific requirements and 3He. The situation has changed in recent years due to the worldwide 3He crisis [1, 2] that necessitated the development of alternative neutron detector technologies based on 10B4C [3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9], 6LiF [10, 11, 12] and scintillators [13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20] More importantly though, these new technologies are required to exceed the scientific capabilities of previous detectors, as imposed by future instrument upgrades and upcoming research facilities. The main application field of the BCS detectors is homeland security but they have the potential to be used as large area position-sensitive detectors for SANS and chopper spectrometers

Geant4 model
Detector efficiency
Absorption in detector components
Activation
Scattering
Impact of scattering on spatial resolution
Definition of fractional scattering
Polyethylene “afterburner” block behind the detector
Findings
Conclusions

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