Design and experimental validation of a Bonner Sphere Spectrometer based on Dysprosium activation foils

The increasing demand of rapid and reliable experimental techniques for the dosimetric characterization of high-intensity neutron fields, as those produced by radiotherapy and radioisotope installations, is the main reason for this study. In the past years INFN implemented a Bonner Sphere System, equipped with TLDs or gold activation foils, which was successfully employed for neutron spectra measurements around medical LINACs. The INFN–ENEA collaboration extended this methodology to Dysprosium activation foils. Taking advantage of the high activation cross section (2700 barn at 0.025 eV), the photon insensitivity and the reasonably short half live (2.334 h), the Dy-based BSS (Dy-BSS) is highly suited for operational measurements, where short irradiations and short measurement times are desirable. This work presents the response matrix of the Dy-BSS, calculated with MCNPX, and the results of its experimental validation, performed with reference neutron fields at the ENEA-Bologna labs. In addition, the newly developed Dy-BSS and the traditional gold foil-based BSS are compared, underlying the advantages of the new system.