Intense Pulsed Neutron Source Research Articles

A pulse current generator for dense plasma focus

A pulse current generator applied in a type of high-yield intense pulsed neutron source, the Dense Plasma Focus (DPF), is designed and developed in this paper. There are three key components in this generator. Each group of capacitors and switches is integrative to meet the DPF's requirements of low circuit inductance. A coaxial multi-channel switch is developed to solve the problems of the switch inductance, the jitter and the electrode erosion. A kind of sectorial plate transmission line is adopted to transfer the high pulse current from the capacitors to the DPF. The following technical parameters of the generator were achieved on dummy load: output current amplitude of ∼560 kA when primary capacitors are charged with 22 kV.

Advanced Small-Angle Scattering Instrument Available in the Tokyo Area. Time-Of-Flight, Small-Angle Neutron Scattering Developed on the iMATERIA Diffractometer at the High Intensity Pulsed Neutron Source J-PARC

A method of time-of-flight, small-angle neutron scattering (TOF-SANS) has been developed based on the iMATERIA powder diffractometer at BL20, of the Materials and Life Sciences Facility (MLF) at the high-intensity proton accelerator (J-PARC). A large-area detector for SANS, which is composed of triple-layered 3He tube detectors, has a hole at its center in order to release a direct beam behind and to detect ultra-small-angle scattering. As a result, the pulsed-neutron TOF method enables us to perform multiscale observations covering 0.003 < q (Å−1) < 40 (qmax/qmix = 1.3 × 104) and to determine the static structure factor S(q) and/or form factor P(q) under real-time and in-situ conditions. Our challenge, using unique sample accessories of a super-conducting magnet and polarized neutron, is dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) for contrast variation, especially for industrial use. To reinforce conventional SANS measurements with powder materials, grazing-incidence small-angle neutron scattering (GISANS) or reflectivity is also available on the iMATERIA instrument.

Tuning Neutron Resonance Spin-Echo Spectrometers with Pulsed Beams

The neutron spin-echo spectroscopy technique involving pulsed beams can be used to effectively access a wide range of space-time correlations of condensed matter. In this study, the features of this technique, in particular, the modulation of the intensity with zero effort (MIEZE) by using pulsed beams, which is based on the quantum-state manipulation of the neutron spin and energy, are comprehensively examined. A formulation of the MIEZE combined with the time of flight method (TOF MIEZE) is established by considering the characteristics of the pulsed neutron beams. Moreover, a parameter, namely, the detuning parameter, is introduced as a measure of the magnitude of detuning from the optimized instrumental state, known as the spin-echo condition. The phase and frequency shifts of the neutron intensity signals resulting from the TOF MIEZE under various configurations are investigated systematically. It is found that the detuning parameter equals the derivative of phase with respect to the TOF, whose zero-point corresponds to the spin-echo condition. The theoretical predictions on phase and frequency shifts by the established formulation are well validated by the experiments using an intense pulsed neutron source. The detuning parameter helps clarify the principle of the TOF MIEZE technique and can provide practical guidance regarding the implementation and optimization of spectrometers.

LUE-200 Accelerator—A Photo-neutron Generator For The Pulsed Neutron Source “IREN”

This article reports about the construction and status of the accelerator facility at the Laboratory of Neutron Physics (FLNP) in the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR, Dubna), the driver of an intense pulsed resonance neutron source. The general scheme of the electron linear accelerator and features of its basic systems are presented. LUE-200 consists of two accelerating sections on a traveling wave with an operating frequency of 2856 MHz with RF power compression systems of the SLED type. The pulse current of the beam at the output of the accelerator reaches 2 A with a pulse duration of 80–100 ns. At the average energy of beam particles from 60–65 MeV and a cycle repetition rate of 50 Hz, the average beam power reaches ≈ 600 W. The integral neutron flux from the non-multiplying target reaches ∼ 1012 s−1.

Neutrino CP Violation with the European Spallation Source neutrino Super Beam project

After measuring in 2012 a relatively large value of the neutrino mixing angle θ 13, the door is now open to observe for the first time a possible CP violation in the leptonic sector. The measured value of θ 13 also privileges the 2nd oscillation maximum for the discovery of CP violation instead of the usually used 1st oscillation maximum. The sensitivity at this 2nd oscillation maximum is about three times higher than for the 1st oscillation maximum inducing a lower influence of systematic errors. Going to the 2nd oscillation maximum necessitates a very intense neutrino beam with the appropriate energy. The world’s most intense pulsed spallation neutron source, the European Spallation Source (ESS), will have a proton linac with 5 MW power and 2 GeV energy. This linac, under construction, also has the potential to become the proton driver of the world’s most intense neutrino beam with very high potential to discover a neutrino CP violation. The physics performance of that neutrino Super Beam in conjunction with a megaton underground Water Cherenkov neutrino detector installed at a distance of about 500 km from ESS has been evaluated. In addition, the choice of such detector will extent the physics program to proton–decay, atmospheric neutrinos and astrophysics searches. The ESS proton linac upgrades, the accumulator ring needed for proton pulse compression, the target station optimization and the physics potential are described. In addition to neutrinos, this facility will also produce at the same time a copious number of muons which could be used by a muon collider. The ESS neutron facility will be fully ready by 2023 at which moment the upgrades for the neutrino facility could start.

Design, manufacturing and calibration of the new models of silver GM activation counters

The innovative single and array models of silver Geiger Muller (GM) activation counters were designed to measure the fast neutron fluence. These counters were made of inner and outer neutron moderators (PE) sections with special designs of silver foil and thin wall GM counter. The Monte Carlo N-Particles MCNPX2.6 code was used to simulate the optimum dimension and energy responses of these counters. The two counters were calibrated by means of 241Am-Be radioisotopic neutron source with 16Ci activity. The detection efficiencies of single and array counters were 0.07 ± 0.005 and 0.785 ± 0.05, respectively. The energy responses of these two counters were determined to be flat for low energy neutrons of 2 keV to 1 MeV which were rarely observed in other neutron detectors. The directional sensitivities were also improved after rejecting scattered neutrons by surrounding materials which will be of high importance for intense pulsed neutron sources.

Neutron capture data for unstable nuclei – Astrophysical quests and experimental challenges

The abundances of the chemical elements heavier than iron can be attributed in about equal parts to the r and s processes, which are taking place in supernova explosions and during the He and C burning phases of stellar evolution, respectively. So far, quantitative studies of the r-process are out of reach, because it involves reactions on extremely short-lived neutron-rich nuclei. On the contrary, the situation for the s-process is far advanced, thanks to a comprehensive database of experimental (n,γ) cross sections for most isotopes along the reaction path from 12C to the Pb/Bi region. For the stable isotopes last gaps in the data are presently closed, but further studies are clearly needed to reach the required accuracy and to resolve remaining discrepancies. The quest for cross sections of unstable isotopes remains a persisting challenge though. In particular, nuclei which act as branching points are of prime interest, because they provide key information on the deep stellar interior. While the activation method is limited to a few exceptional branch-point nuclei, successful measurements via the time-of- flight technique are depending on intense pulsed neutron sources and elaborate methods for sample production. Current developments in Europe are providing promising perspectives in both areas.

The hydrogen anomaly problem in neutron Compton scattering

Neutron Compton scattering (also called ‘deep inelastic scattering of neutrons’, DINS) is a method used to study momentum distributions of light atoms in solids and liquids. It has been employed extensively since the start-up of intense pulsed neutron sources about 25 years ago. The information lies primarily in the width and shape of the Compton profile and not in the absolute intensity of the Compton peaks. It was therefore not immediately recognized that the relative intensities of Compton peaks arising from scattering on different isotopes did not always agree with values expected from standard neutron cross-section tables. The discrepancies were particularly large for scattering on protons, a phenomenon that became known as ‘the hydrogen anomaly problem’. The present paper is a review of the discovery, experimental tests to prove or disprove the existence of the hydrogen anomaly and discussions concerning its origin. It covers a twenty-year-long history of experimentation, theoretical treatments and discussions. The problem is of fundamental interest, since it involves quantum phenomena on the subfemtosecond time scale, which are not visible in conventional thermal neutron scattering but are important in Compton scattering where neutrons have two orders of magnitude times higher energy. Different H-containing systems show different cross-section deficiencies and when the scattering processes are followed on the femtosecond time scale the cross-section losses disappear on different characteristic time scales for each H-environment. The last section of this review reproduces results from published papers based on quantum interference in scattering on identical particles (proton or deuteron pairs or clusters), which have given a quantitative theoretical explanation both regarding the H-cross-section reduction and its time dependence. Some new explanations are added and the concluding chapter summarizes the conditions for observing the specific quantum phenomena observed in neutron Compton scattering on protons and deuterons in condensed systems.

The ESS neutrino facility for CP violation discovery

The comparatively large value of the neutrino mixing angle θ13 measured in 2012 by neutrino reactor experiments has opened the possibility to observe for the first time CP violation in the leptonic sector. The measured value of θ13 also privileges the 2nd oscillation maximum for the discovery of CP violation instead of the usually used 1st oscillation maximum. The sensitivity at the 2nd oscillation maximum is about three times higher than at the 1st oscillation maximum implying a significantly lower sensitivity to systematic errors. Measuring at the 2nd oscillation maximum necessitates a very intense neutrino beam with the appropriate energy. The world’s most intense pulsed spallation neutron source, the European Spallation Source, has a proton linac with 5 MW power and 2 GeV energy. This linac also has the potential to become the proton driver of the world’s most intense neutrino beam with very high potential for the discovery of neutrino CP violation. The physics performance of that neutrino Super Beam in conjunction with a megaton Water Cherenkov neutrino detector installed ca 1000 m down in a mine at a distance of about 500 km from ESS has been evaluated. In addition, the use of such a detector will make it possible to extent the physics program to proton decay, atmospheric neutrinos and astrophysics searches. The ESS proton linac upgrade, the accumulator ring needed for proton pulse compression, the target station optimization and the physics potential are described. In addition to the production of neutrinos, this facility will also be a copious source of muons which could be used to feed a low energy nuSTORM facility, a future neutrino factory or a muon collider. The ESS linac, under construction, will reach full operation at 5 MW by 2023 after which the upgrades for the neutrino facility could start.

Development and characterization of a high yield transportable pulsed neutron source with efficient and compact pulsed power system.

The results of characterization experiments carried out on a newly developed dense plasma focus device based intense pulsed neutron source with efficient and compact pulsed power system are reported. Its high current sealed pseudospark switch based low inductance capacitor bank with maximum stored energy of ∼10 kJ is segregated into four modules of ∼2.5 kJ each and it cumulatively delivers peak current in the range of 400 kA-600 kA (corresponding to charging voltage range of 14 kV-18 kV) in a quarter time period of ∼2 μs. The neutron yield performance of this device has been optimized by discretely varying deuterium filling gas pressure in the range of 6 mbar-11 mbar at ∼17 kV/550 kA discharge. At ∼7 kJ/8.5 mbar operation, the average neutron yield has been measured to be in the order of ∼4 × 109 neutrons/pulse which is the highest ever reported neutron yield from a plasma focus device with the same stored energy. The average forward to radial anisotropy in neutron yield is found to be ∼2. The entire system is contained on a moveable trolley having dimensions 1.5 m × 1 m × 0.7 m and its operation and control (up to the distance of 25 m) are facilitated through optically isolated handheld remote console. The overall compactness of this system provides minimum proximity to small as well as large samples for irradiation. The major intended application objective of this high neutron yield dense plasma focus device development is to explore the feasibility of active neutron interrogation experiments by utilization of intense pulsed neutron sources.

The ESSνSB Project for Leptonic CP Violation Discovery based on the European Spallation Source Linac

In addition to the world's most intense pulsed spallation neutron source, the European Spallation Source linac with 5 MW proton power has the potential to become the proton driver of the world's most intense neutrino beam. The physics performance of that neutrino Super Beam in conjunction with a megaton Water Cherenkov neutrino detector installed 1000 m down in a mine at a distance of about 500 km from ESS has been evaluated. In particular, the superior potential of such a neutrino experiment placed at the 2nd oscillation maximum to discover the lepton CP violation in order to explain the matter–antimatter asymmetry in Universe is presented. In addition, the choice of such detector will extent the physics program to proton–decay, atmospheric neutrinos and astrophysics searches. The ESS proton linac upgrades, the accumulator ring needed for proton pulse compression, the target station optimization and the physics potential are described. The ESS neutron installations will be fully ready by 2023 at which moment the upgrades for the neutrino facility could start. In this scenario data taking for neutrino physics could start around 2030.

A high intensity 200 mA proton source for the FRANZ-Project (Frankfurt-Neutron-Source at the Stern-Gerlach-Center)

At the University of Frankfurt a high current proton source has been developed and tested for the FRANZ-Project [U. Ratzinger, L. P. Chau, O. Meusel, A. Schempp, K. Volk, M. Heil, F. Käppeler, and R. Stieglitz, "Intense pulsed neutron source FRANZ in the 1-500 keV range," ICANS-XVIII Proceedings, Dongguan, April 2007, p. 210]. The ion source is a filament driven arc discharge ion source. The new design consists of a plasma generator, equipped with a filter magnet to produce nearly pure proton beams (92 %), and a compact triode extraction system. The beam current density has been enhanced up to 521 mA/cm(2). Using an emission opening radius of 4 mm, a proton beam current of 240 mA at 50 keV beam energy in continuous wave mode (cw) has been extracted. This paper will present the current status of the proton source including experimental results of detailed investigations of the beam composition in dependence of different plasma parameters. Both, cw and pulsed mode were studied. Furthermore, the performance of the ion source was studied with deuterium as working gas.

Development of <sup>3</sup>He Neutron Spin Filter for the Application at an Intense Pulsed Neutron Source Facility

Development of <sup>3</sup>He Neutron Spin Filter for the Application at an Intense Pulsed Neutron Source Facility

The 'Study on Nuclear Data by Using a High Intensity Pulsed Neutron Source for Advanced Nuclear System' Nuclear Data Project and the Characteristics of the Neutron Beam Line for the Capture Cross Section Experiments at J-PARC

The 'Study on Nuclear Data by Using a High Intensity Pulsed Neutron Source for Advanced Nuclear System' Nuclear Data Project and the Characteristics of the Neutron Beam Line for the Capture Cross Section Experiments at J-PARC

Development of J-PARC High Intensity Pulsed Neutron Source

Development of J-PARC High Intensity Pulsed Neutron Source

Surviving to Tell the Tale: Argonne's Intense Pulsed Neutron Source from an Ecosystem Perspective

At first glance the story of the Intense Pulsed Neutron Source (IPNS), an accelerator-driven neutron source for exploring the structure of materials through neutron scattering, seems to be one of puzzling ups and downs. For example, Argonne management, Department of Energy officials, and materials science reviewers continued to offer, then withdraw, votes of confidence even though the middling-sized IPNS produced high-profile research, including work that made the cover of Nature in 1987. In the midst of this period of shifting opinion and impressive research results, some Argonne materials scientists were unenthusiastic, members of the laboratory's energy physics group were key supporters, and materials scientists at another laboratory provided, almost fortuitously, a new lease on life. What forces shaped the puzzling life cycle of the IPNS? And what role—if any—did the moderate price tag and the development of scientific and technological ideas play in the course it took? To answer these questions this paper looks to an ecosystem metaphor for inspiration, exploring how opinions, ideas, and machinery emerged from the interrelated resource economies of Argonne, the DOE, and the materials science community by way of a tangled web of shifting group interactions. The paper will conclude with reflections about what the resulting focus on relationality explains about the IPNS story as well as the underlying dynamic that animates knowledge production at U.S. national laboratories.

高強度パルス中性子源を用いた革新的原子炉用核データの研究開発 (11) MA等の中性子核分裂断面積の測定

高強度パルス中性子源を用いた革新的原子炉用核データの研究開発 (11) MA等の中性子核分裂断面積の測定

Investigation of the vertical instability at the Argonne Intense Pulsed Neutron Source

The rapid cycling synchrotron of the intense pulsed neutron source at Argonne National Laboratory normally operates at an average beam current of 14 to 15 � A, accelerating protons from 50 to 450 MeV 30 times per second. The beam current is limited by a single-bunch vertical instability that occurs in the later part of the 14 ms acceleration cycle. By analyzing turn-by-turn beam position monitor data, two cases of vertical beam centroid oscillations were discovered. The oscillations start from the tail of the bunch, build up, and develop toward the head of the bunch. The development stops near the bunch center and oscillations remain localized in the tail for a relatively long time (2–4 ms, 1–2 � 10 4 turns). This vertical instability is identified as the cause of the beam loss. We compared this instability with a head-tail instability that was purposely induced by switching off sextupole magnets. It appears that the observed vertical instability is different from the classical head-tail instability.

Single-crystal neutron diffraction studies of hydrogen-bonded systems: Two recent examples from IPNS

Beginning with work in the 1950s at the first generation of research reactors, studies of hydrogen-bonded systems have been a prime application for single-crystal neutron diffraction. The range of systems studied was extended in the 1960s and 1970s, with the advent of high flux reactor sources, and beginning around 1980 studies at pulsed neutron sources have made increasingly important contributions. Recently at the Argonne Intense Pulsed Neutron Source (IPNS), working with collaborators, we completed two studies of hydrogen-bonded systems that will serve to illustrate topics of current interest. In the first study, on andrographolide, an active diterpenoid natural product, our neutron diffraction results definitively characterize the hydrogen-bonding interactions. The second IPNS study is on tetraacetylethane (TAE), a β-diketone enol system with a very short, strong intramolecular O–H⋯O hydrogen bond. At IPNS, we have determined the neutron crystal structure of TAE at five temperatures between 20 and 298 K to investigate changes in the structure with temperature and to probe for disorder. Despite the successes illustrated by the two examples presented here and by many other studies, at present applications of single-crystal neutron diffraction continue to be extremely flux limited and constrained by the requirement for mm-size crystals for many problems. These limitations are being addressed through the realization of powerful instruments at a new generation of pulsed neutron sources, including in the USA the TOPAZ and MaNDi single-crystal diffractometers that are under development at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS).

Experimental tests with MISANS (Modulated Intensity Small Angle Neutron Scattering) at IPNS (Intense Pulsed Neutron Source)

In this paper we describe the latest tests of the MISANS spectrometer at the IPNS in Argonne, USA. At this stage the time resolution and more importantly the contrast of the modulation at the detector is very low, nevertheless it was possible to perform a MISANS-measurement and test some features typical for a pulsed neutron source. The MISANS technique has a huge potential to improve its contrast and resolution towards a high resolution spin echo spectrometer.