Monte Carlo evaluation of the neutron detection efficiency of a superheated drop detector

摘要

Neutron dosimetry has recently gained renewed attention, following concerns on the exposure of crew members on board aircraft, and of workers around the increasing number of high energy accelerators for medical and research purposes. At the same time the new operational quantities for radiation dosimetry introduced by ICRU and the ICRP, aiming at a unified metrological system applicable to all types of radiation exposure, involved the need to update current devices in order to meet new requirements. Superheated Drop (Bubble) Detectors (SDD) offer an alternative approach to neutron radiation protection dosimetry. The SDDs are currently studied within a large collaborative effort involving Yale University, New Haven CT, the 'Universita' degli Studi di Pisa', the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Braunschweig D. and ENEA (National Agency for New Technology, Energy and the Environment)-C.R., Bologna. The detectors were characterised through calibrations with monoenergetic neutron beams and where experimental investigations were inadequate or impossible, such as in the intermediate energy range, parametric Monte Carlo calculations of the response were carried out. This report describes the general characteristics of the SDDs along with the Monte Carlo computations of the energy response and a comparison with the experimental results.