Speaker
Description
Numerous areas of nuclear physics, including fusion research, space-related technologies, and medical applications, require neutron detectors that maintain reliable performance under difficult environmental conditions. Among the available detection technologies, diamond-based detectors are regarded as particularly promising for radiation measurements in such environments, due to their exceptional electrical and physical properties [1]. In this work a diamond detector system was developed by the CIVIDEC Instrumentation [2] along with the necessary electronics. The detector consists of a single-crystal diamond sensor, produced by Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD), with dimensions of 4 mm × 4 mm and a thickness of 50 μm. In addition, a 1.8 μm 6LiF foil was used as a neutron converter in order to enhance the detection efficiency for neutrons with energies below 1 MeV.
The detector was installed at the NEAR station of the n_TOF facility at CERN, where a white neutron beam is produced via spallation reactions induced by a pulsed proton beam, producing a mixed-field neutron environment. With a flight path of only 2.5 m from the spallation target, the NEAR station is characterized by a high instantaneous neutron flux (~1010 n/cm2/proton pulse) and is therefore considered a very challenging environment for active measurements. These demanding conditions offer an excellent opportunity to assess the performance of the diamond detector under high-rate irradiation. An experimental campaign was carried out using the 50 μm diamond detector at the NEAR station, during which the neutron flux was measured. The preliminary results of this campaign will be presented and discussed.
- This project has received funding from the HORIZON-EURATOM-2023-NRT-01-06 call under grant agreement No 101164596. This project has received funding from the Euratom research and training program 2014-2018 under grant agreement No 847594 (ARIEL). Also, this project received some funding for transnational access via EURO-LABS CERN Transnational Access. This work was funded by CIVIDEC-Instrumentation GmbH
References
[1] T.Shimaoka, et al. (2021) Recent progress in diamond radiation detectors Functional Diamond,1:1, 205
220, DOI:10.1080/26941112.2021.2017758
[2] CIVIDEC Instrumentation, https://cividec.at/