Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
1823065 | Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment | 2013 | 12 Pages |
A number of studies focused in the last decades on the development of survey meters to be used in pulsed radiation fields. This is a topic attracting widespread interest for applications such as radiation protection and beam diagnostics in accelerators. This paper describes a new instrument specifically conceived for applications in pulsed neutron fields (PNF). The detector, called LUPIN, is a rem counter type instrument consisting of a 3He proportional counter placed inside a spherical moderator. It works in current mode with a front-end electronics consisting of a current–voltage logarithmic amplifier, whose output signal is acquired with an ADC and processed on a PC. This alternative signal processing allows the instrument to be used in PNF without being affected by saturation effects. Moreover, it has a measurement capability ranging over many orders of burst intensity. Despite the fact that it works in current mode, it can measure a single neutron interaction. The LUPIN was first calibrated in CERN's calibration laboratory with a PuBe source. Measurements were carried out under various experimental conditions at the Helmholtz-Zentrum in Berlin, in the stray field at various locations of the CERN Proton Synchrotron complex and around a radiotherapy linear accelerator at the S. Raffaele hospital in Milan. The detector can withstand single bursts with values of H⁎(10) up to 16 nSv/burst without showing any saturation effect. It efficiently works in pulsed stray fields, where a conventional rem-counter underestimates by a factor of 2. It is also able to reject the very intense and pulsed photon contribution that often accompanies the neutron field with good reliability.
► LUPIN is a new detector specifically conceived to work in neutron pulsed fields. ► The detector is a rem counter type instrument working in current mode. ► The performances of the detectors were studied under various experimental conditions. ► The detector did not show any saturation effect with values of H⁎(10) up to 16 nSv/burst. ► The detector proved able to reject an intense and pulsed photon contribution.