Experimental response functions of a single-crystal diamond detector for 5–20.5 MeV neutrons

A single crystal diamond detector was exposed to quasi mono-energetic neutron fields in the energy range from 5 to 20.5 MeV. Response functions of such a detector were measured for the first time for neutron energies above 14 MeV. The pulse height spectra showed sharp peaks at specific energies. These peaks result from neutron induced charged particle reactions occurring in carbon at different neutron energies. The centroid of the peaks due to the 12C(n,α)9Be reaction permitted, by means of the reaction Q-values, to point out a good linearity of the detector response versus neutron energy and a good intrinsic energy resolution of about 56 keV at full width at half maximum. The results reveal that single crystal diamond detectors are good candidates as high resolution fast neutron spectrometers for nuclear fusion applications and for systematic studies of beam and target characteristics for neutron-producing reactions.