A novel technique for the rejection of gamma background from charged-particle spectra was demonstrated using a CVD diamond detector with a 6Li neutron converter installed at a thermal neutron ...beamline of the TRIGA research reactor at the Atominstitut (Vienna University of Technology). Spectra of the alpha particles and tritons of 6Li(n,T)4He thermal neutron capture reaction were separated from the gamma background by a new algorithm based on pulse-shape analysis. The thermal neutron capture in 6Li is already used for neutron flux monitoring, but the ability to remove gamma background allows using a CVD diamond detector for thermal neutron counting. The pulse-shape analysis can equally be applied to all cases where the charged products of an interaction are absorbed in the diamond and to other background particles that fully traverse the detector.
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In this paper we introduce a novel analysis technique for measurements with single-crystal chemical vapor deposition (sCVD) diamond detectors in fast-neutron fields. This method exploits the unique ...electronic property of sCVD diamond sensors that the signal shape of the detector current is directly proportional to the initial ionization profile. In fast-neutron fields the diamond sensor acts simultaneously as target and sensor. The interaction of neutrons with the stable isotopes
12
C and
13
C is of interest for fast-neutron diagnostics. The measured signal shapes of detector current pulses are used to identify individual types of interactions in the diamond with the goal to select neutron-induced reactions in the diamond and to suppress neutron-induced background reactions as well as
-background. The method is verified with experimental data from a measurement in a 14.3 MeV neutron beam at JRC-IRMM, Geel/Belgium, where the
13
C(n,
)
10
Be reaction was successfully extracted from the dominating background of recoil protons and
-rays and the energy resolution of the
12
C(n,
)
9
Be reaction was substantially improved. The presented analysis technique is especially relevant for diagnostics in harsh radiation environments, like fission and fusion reactors. It allows to extract the neutron spectrum from the background, and is particularly applicable to neutron flux monitoring and neutron spectroscopy.
For the first time, a diamond sensor was operated for the characterisation of a high average-intensity gamma-ray beam. Data was collected for gamma beam energies between 2 and 7MeV, at the HIγS ...facility of TUNL. The nanosecond-fast resolution of diamond detectors is exploited to distinguish bunches of gamma rays 16.8ns apart. It allows a precise direct determination of the time-structure of the gamma beam. The strong potential of such a detector for precise absolute flux, position and polarisation measurements is exposed. It is thus shown that diamond detectors are a decisive and unique tool for the detailed characterisation of upcoming gamma sources, such as ELI-NP and HIγS-2.
•First operation of a diamond sensor for the characterisation of a beam of photons.•Clear distinction of photon bunches separated by 16.8ns.•Polarisation measurements possible through beam shape evaluation.•Essential diagnostic tool for ELI-NP machine.
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The paper describes the testing of the NEUTON detection system into CROCUS, the zero-power reactor of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). NEUTON is composed of a
4
mm
×
4
mm sCVD ...diamond detector with a
6
Li converter and the associated acquisition electronics. It is developed by CIVIDEC Instrumentation GmbH. The use of a diamond detector with converter in the mixed radiation field of a nuclear reactor is challenging because these detectors are sensitive to gamma-rays, fast neutrons and thermal neutrons through conversion in
6
Li . In NEUTON, the rejection of gamma-rays is achieved in real time, via the analysis of the signal pulse shape from the detector. To do so, a few signal characteristics (amplitude, area and FWHM) are recorded in the integrated Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) of the system. This treatment does not induce any dead time. Measurements in CROCUS demonstrated for the first time the capability of a system like NEUTON to detect and separate fast neutrons, thermal neutrons, and gamma-rays. The system response was shown to be linear with respect to the reactor power (up to 35W) and its thermal sensitivity was found to be
(
3
.
5
±
0
.
2
)
×
10
-
5
cps/nv.
We report on the first search for nuclear recoils from dark matter in the form of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) with the XENONnT experiment, which is based on a two-phase time ...projection chamber with a sensitive liquid xenon mass of 5.9 ton. During the (1.09±0.03) ton yr exposure used for this search, the intrinsic ^{85}Kr and ^{222}Rn concentrations in the liquid target are reduced to unprecedentedly low levels, giving an electronic recoil background rate of (15.8±1.3) events/ton yr keV in the region of interest. A blind analysis of nuclear recoil events with energies between 3.3 and 60.5 keV finds no significant excess. This leads to a minimum upper limit on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross section of 2.58×10^{-47} cm^{2} for a WIMP mass of 28 GeV/c^{2} at 90% confidence level. Limits for spin-dependent interactions are also provided. Both the limit and the sensitivity for the full range of WIMP masses analyzed here improve on previous results obtained with the XENON1T experiment for the same exposure.
We report on a blinded analysis of low-energy electronic recoil data from the first science run of the XENONnT dark matter experiment. Novel subsystems and the increased 5.9 ton liquid xenon target ...reduced the background in the (1, 30) keV search region to (15.8±1.3) events/(ton×year×keV), the lowest ever achieved in a dark matter detector and ∼5 times lower than in XENON1T. With an exposure of 1.16 ton-years, we observe no excess above background and set stringent new limits on solar axions, an enhanced neutrino magnetic moment, and bosonic dark matter.
At nuclear fusion reactors, CVD diamond detectors are considered an advantageous solution for neutron flux monitoring. For such applications the knowledge of the cross section of neutron-induced ...nuclear reactions on natural carbon are of high importance. Especially the (n,α0) reactions, yielding the highest energy reaction products, are of relevance as they can be clearly distinguished in the spectrum. The 13C(n,α0)10Be cross section was measured relative to 12C(n,α0)9Be at the Van de Graaff facility of EC-JRC Geel, Belgium, at 14.3 MeV and 17.0 MeV neutron energies. The measurement was performed with an sCVD (single-crystal Chemical Vapor Deposition) diamond detector, where the detector material acted simultaneously as sample and as sensor. A novel data analysis technique, based on pulse-shape discrimination, allowed an efficient reduction of background events. The results of the measurement are presented and compared to previously published values for this cross-section.
The energy-dependent cross section of the Be7(n,alpha)He4 reaction, of interest for the so-called cosmological lithium problem in big bang nucleosynthesis, has been measured for the first time from ...10 meV to 10 keV neutron energy. The challenges posed by the short half-life of Be7 and by the low reaction cross section have been overcome at n_TOF thanks to an unprecedented combination of the extremely high luminosity and good resolution of the neutron beam in the new experimental area (EAR2) of the n_TOF facility at CERN, the availability of a sufficient amount of chemically pure Be7, and a specifically designed experimental setup. Coincidences between the two alpha particles have been recorded in two Si-Be7-Si arrays placed directly in the neutron beam. The present results are consistent, at thermal neutron energy, with the only previous measurement performed in the 1960s at a nuclear reactor. The energy dependence reported here clearly indicates the inadequacy of the cross section estimates currently used in BBN calculations. Although new measurements at higher neutron energy may still be needed, the n_TOF results hint at a minor role of this reaction in BBN, leaving the long-standing cosmological lithium problem unsolved.
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