Probing yields and angular distributions of Be(d,n) neutrons with novel target of compressed beryllium-powder

Abstract

A comprehensive study was conducted in the Cyclotron laboratory at National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University on the use of a new type of target utilized in the production of fast-neutrons. The flux and spectra of the fast-neutrons emitted by a novel target of compressed beryllium powder were studied. The neutron angular distribution was measured using Fe and Al foils as detectors in different angular situations of the target relative to the incident deuteron beam. It was found that there are some discrepancies in the neutron flux at 0° degree for the detectors, up to about 20% for different target-beam angle. Likewise, the flux of neutrons in the energy range between 1 and 6 MeV make up about 83% of the total flux. Compering with previous works using solid target, we found an increase of nearly twice the yield of fast neutrons. And there is a probability that increase would rise steadily as the deuteron energies exceed 12 MeV as was the case in our work. The results of this study are new and promising and we can obtain a relatively greater neutron yield when using a compressed powder target. This is reflected positively on many applications that use fast-neutron beams, such as radiotherapy, radioactive isotopes, and even nuclear fusion experiments, among others.