Comprehensive Measurement of Neutron Yield Produced by 62 MeV Protons on Beryllium Target

摘要

A low-power prototype of neutron amplifier, based on a 70 MeV, high currentproton cyclotron being installed at LNL for the SPES RIB facility, was recentlyproposed within INFN-E project. This prototype uses a thick Beryllium converterto produce a fast neutron spectrum feeding a sub-critical reactor core. Tocomplete the design of such facility the new measurement of neutron yield froma thick Beryllium target was performed at LNS. This measurement used liquidscintillator detectors to identify produced neutrons by Pulse ShapeDiscrimination and Time of Flight technique to measure neutron energy in therange 0.5-62 MeV. To extend the covered neutron energy range He3 detector wasused to measure neutrons below 0.5 MeV. The obtained yields were normalized tothe charge deposited by the proton beam on the metallic Beryllium target. Thesetechniques allowed to achieve a wide angular coverage from 0 to 150 degrees andto explore almost complete neutron energy interval.