Superconducting high resolution fast -neutron spectrometers

Superconducting high resolution fast-neutron calorimetric spectrometers based on 6LiF and TiB2 absorbers have been developed. These novel cryogenic spectrometers measure the temperature rise produced in exothermal (n, alpha) reactions with fast neutrons in 6Li and 10B-loaded materials with heat capacity C operating at temperatures T close to 0.1 K. Temperature variations on the order of 0.5 mK are measured with a Mo/Cu thin film multilayer operated in the transition region between its superconducting and its normal state. The advantage of calorimetry for high resolution spectroscopy is due to the small phonon excitation energies kBT on the order of mueV that serve as signal carriers, resulting in an energy resolution DeltaE ≈ (k BT2C)1/2, which can be well below 10 keV.;An energy resolution of 5.5 keV has been obtained with a Mo/Cu superconducting sensor and a TiB2 absorber using thermal neutrons from a 252Cf neutron source. This resolution is sufficient to observe the effect of recoil nuclei broadening in neutron spectra, which has been related to the lifetime of the first excited state in 7Li. Fast-neutron spectra obtained with a 6Li-enriched LiF absorber show an energy resolution of 16 keV FWHM, and a response in agreement with the 6Li(n, alpha) 3H reaction cross section and Monte Carlo simulations for energies up to several MeV. The energy resolution of order of a few keV makes this novel instrument applicable to fast-neutron transmission spectroscopy based on the unique elemental signature provided by the neutron absorption and scattering resonances. The optimization of the energy resolution based on analytical and numerical models of the detector response is discussed in the context of these applications.