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Persistent URL http://purl.org/net/epubs/work/65722
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Record Id 65722
Title LUPIN, a new instrument for pulsed neutron fields
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Abstract 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.
Organisation CI
Keywords 3He , Pulsed field , Physics , Logarithmic amplifier , Proportional counter , Neutron detection , Linac
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Language English (EN)
Type Details URI(s) Local file(s) Year
Journal Article Nucl Instrum Meth A, no. 712 (2013): 15-26. doi:10.1016/j.nima.2013.01.060 Cockcroft-13-17.pdf 2013