Neutron Detector

M. Nouman Mubashar
70070192
 What is a Neutron Detector?

• Neutron detectors are detectors used for the detection of neutrons

• There are two key aspects to effective neutron detection: hardware
and software
• Detection hardware refers to the kind of neutron detector used (the
most common today is the scintillation detector) and to the
electronics used in the detection setup
• Detection software consists of analysis tools that perform tasks such
as graphical analysis to measure the number and energies of
neutrons striking the detector
 Working Principle

• The detection of a neutron requires indirect methods due to the fact

that this subatomic particle is neither negatively nor positively
charged
• Neutrons do not ionize and do not interact directly with electrons in
way like electromagnetic radiation does, for example X-rays
• When neutrons hit a target material they interact in such a way that
their surroundings produce an energetic reaction product
• Detecting neutrons is thus commonly based on the detection of these
secondary reactions
• Neutron detectors consist of materials that interact with neutrons
• Detectors can consist of solid, liquid or gas-filled medium
 Basic Physics
Following are different signatures by which neutrons may be detected:
• Charge: Neutrons are neutral particles and do not ionize directly; hence they are harder
than charged particles to detect directly. Further, their paths of motion are only weakly
affected by electric and magnetic fields.
• Mass: The neutron mass of 1.0086649156 u is not directly detectable, but does influence
reactions through which it can be detected.
• Reactions: Neutrons react with a number of materials through elastic scattering producing
a recoiling nucleus, inelastic scattering producing an excited nucleus, or absorption with
transmutation of the resulting nucleus. Most detection approaches rely on detecting the
various reaction products.
• Magnetic moment: Although neutrons have a magnetic moment of −1.9130427(5) μN,
techniques for detection of the magnetic moment are too insensitive to use for neutron
detection.
• Electric dipole moment: The neutron is predicted to have only a tiny electric dipole
moment, which has not yet been detected. Hence it is not a viable detection signature.
• Decay: Outside the nucleus, free neutrons are unstable and have a mean
lifetime of 885.7±0.8 s (about 14 minutes, 46 seconds). Free neutrons decay by emission of
an electron and an electron antineutrino to become a proton, a process known as beta
decay
 Types of Neutron Detectors

• Gas proportional detectors

 3He gas-filled proportional detectors
 BF3 gas-filled proportional detectors
 Boron lined proportional detectors
• Scintillation neutron detectors
 Neutron-sensitive scintillating glass fiber detectors
• Semiconductor neutron detectors
• Fast neutron detectors
 Gas proportional detectors

• Gas proportional detectors can be adapted to detect neutrons

• The proportional counter is a type of gaseous ionization
detector device used to measure particles of ionizing radiation.
• The key feature is its ability to measure the energy of incident
radiation, by producing a detector output pulse that
is proportional to the radiation energy absorbed by the detector due
to an ionizing event; hence the detector's name.
• It is widely used where energy levels of incident radiation must be
known, such as in the discrimination between alpha and beta
particles, or accurate measurement of X-ray radiation dose.
 Scintillation neutron detectors

• Scintillation neutron detectors include liquid organic

scintillators, crystals, plastics, glass and scintillation fibers.
• A scintillation counter is an instrument for detecting and
measuring ionizing radiation by using the excitation effect of incident
radiation on a scintillating material, and detecting the resultant light
pulses.
• It consists of a scintillator which generates photons in response to
incident radiation, a sensitive photodetector (usually
a photomultiplier tube (PMT), a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera,
or a photodiode), which converts the light to an electrical signal and
electronics to process this signal.
 Semiconductor neutron detectors

• There are two basic types of semiconductor neutron detectors, the

first being electron devices coated with a neutron reactive material
and the second being a semiconductor being partly composed of
neutron reactive material.
• The concept is straightforward. A neutron is absorbed in the reactive
film and spontaneously emits energetic reaction products. A reaction
product may reach the semiconductor surface, and upon entering the
semiconductor produces electron-hole pairs. Under a reverse bias
voltage, these electrons and holes are drifted through the diode to
produce an induced current, usually integrated in pulse mode to form
a voltage output.
 Applications

• Plasma physics: Neutron detection is used in fusion plasma physics

experiments. For example, the detected neutron rate from a plasma can
give information about the ion temperature.
• Particle physics: Neutron detection has been proposed as a method of
enhancing neutrino detectors.
• Materials science: Elastic and inelastic neutron scattering enables
experimentalists to characterize the morphology of materials from scales
ranging from ångströms to about one micrometer.
• Cosmic ray detection: Secondary neutrons are one component of particle
showers produced in Earth's atmosphere by cosmic rays. Dedicated ground-
level neutron detectors, namely neutron monitors, are employed to
monitor variations in cosmic ray flux.
 Thank You

Any Questions?