The first neutron time-of-flight line in Spain: Commissioning and new data for the definition of a neutron standard field

Abstract

The National Accelerator Laboratory (CNA) has developed the first accelerator line in Spain devoted to the measurement of cross sections involving neutrons by means of the time-of-flight technique. For neutron generation, pulsed proton beams with 1 nsec pulse width and with variable repetition rates are delivered. The data acquisition has been built using a CAEN Digitizer. The aim of this work is to demonstrate the good performance of the time-of-flight system. The commissioning of the line has consisted of the measurement of the neutron field generated by protons at 1912 keV impinging on a thick lithium target. Such a field has been extensively used in nuclear astrophysics since 1988. Recently, there have been experimental works with the goal to support it as a standard neutron field. The results show the good performance of the time-of-flight system and also support its possible definition as a standard.