On multi-group neutron transport in planar one dimensional geometry: A solution for a localized pulsed source

Scientific investigations involving the use of neutron beams have been centered at reactor sources for the last 35 years. Recently, there has been considerable interest in using the neutrons produced by accelerator driven (pulsed) sources. Such installations are in operation in England, Japan, and the United States. In this article a brief survey is given of how the neutron beams are produced and how they can be optimized for neutron scattering experiments. A detailed description is then given of the various types of instruments that have been, or are planned, at pulsed sources. Numerous examples of the scientific results that are emerging are given. An attempt is made throughout the article to compare the scientific opportunities at pulsed sources with the proven performance of reactor installations, and some familiarity with the latter and the general field of neutron scattering is assumed. New areas are being opened up by pulsed sources, particularly with the intense epithermal neutron beams, which promise to be several orders of magnitude more intense than can be obtained from a thermal reactor.

Neutron scattering techniques are attracting an increasing interest from scientists in various research fields, ranging from physics and chemistry to biology and archaeometry. The success of these neutron scattering applications is stimulated by the development of higher performance instrumentation. The development of new techniques and concepts, including radiative capture based neutron detection, is therefore a key issue to be addressed.Radiative capture based neutron detectors utilize the emission of prompt gamma rays after neutron absorption in a suitable isotope and the detection of those gammas by a photon counter. They can be used as simple counters in the thermal region and (simultaneously) as energy selector and counters for neutrons in the eV energy region. Several years of extensive development have made eV neutron spectrometers operating in the so-called resonance detector spectrometer (RDS) configuration outperform their conventional counterparts. In fact, the VESUVIO spectrometer, a flagship instrument at ISIS serving a continuous user programme for eV inelastic neutron spectroscopy measurements, is operating in the RDS configuration since 2007.In this review, we discuss the physical mechanism underlying the RDS configuration and the development of associated instrumentation. A few successful neutron scattering experiments that utilize the radiative capture counting techniques will be presented together with the potential of this technique for thermal neutron diffraction measurements. We also outline possible improvements and future perspectives for radiative capture based neutron detectors in neutron scattering application at pulsed neutron sources.

This note proposes a new concept for the production of ultracold neutrons (UCNs) in a decelerating trap. UCNs are widely used in the physics of elementary particles and fundamental interactions, and can potentially be used in studies of condensed matter. However, most of these studies are limited by the available UCN densities and fluxes. One of the ways to increase them is to extract more neutrons from the full phase space of a source and better exploit peak fluxes in pulsed neutron sources, orders of magnitude larger than the mean values. For instance, at ESS, the pulsed flux will be a factor of ∼25 larger than the mean flux of ILL at nominal power. Here, a concept of UCN sources is proposed, which allows to implement this idea. We propose to produce very cold neutrons (VCNs) in converters located in a neutron source, extract and slow them down to UCNs by a decelerating magnetic or material trap. As shown in this paper, for both pulsed and continuous neutron sources, this method could provide a high conversion efficiency of VCNs to UCNs with low losses of density in the phase space. More detailed calculations and the proposals for concrete technical designs are going to be developed in future publications.

Application of the backward extrapolation method to pulsed neutron sources

The paper discusses an assessment, using Monte Carlo modeling techniques, of the advantages we could derive and challenges we would face in utilizing multiple sensors with a pulsed neutron (PN) source for cased-hole logging to obtain petrophysical parameters. Current PN devices are primarily based on two detectors, with source-detector spacing often similar among the various vendors. We consider four sensors to investigate three measurement types, 1) a pseudo-density through casing concept that shows the potential to distinguish between gas and tight zones, 2) computing oil saturation from Carbon/Oxygen logs with oil present in the borehole, and 3) estimation of Sigma and hence water and steam saturation from PNC logs. We illustrate the advantages of using modeling to study measurement concepts independent of specific tools. We identify areas of further research in basic measurement concepts using pulsed sources and in related radiation transport theory.

First implementation of Repetition Rate Multiplication in neutron spectroscopy

Neutron chopper phasing for a quasi-periodic pulsed neutron source

A resonance neutron-spin flipper for neutron spin echo at pulsed sources

The finite element method is applied to the spatial variables of multi-group neutron transport equation in the two-dimensional cylindrical (r, z) geometry. The equation is discretized using regular rectangular subregions in the (r, z) plane. The discontinuous method with bilinear or biquadratic Lagrange's interpolating polynomials as basis functions is incorporated into a computer code FEMRZ. Here, the angular fluxes are allowed to be discontinuous across the subregion boundaries. Some numerical calculations have been performed and the results indicated that, in the case of biquadratic approximation, the solutions are sufficiently accurate and numerically stable even for coarse meshes. The results are also compared with those obtained by a diamond difference S n code TWOTRAN-II. The merits of the discontinuous method are demonstrated through the numerical studies. KEYWORDS: finite element methodneutron transportcylindrical geometryLagrange's interpolating polynomialGalerkin-type schemeCrout's methodcoarse mesh rebalancefinite difference methodnumerical solutioncomparative evaluation

The fission phenomena in a multiplying medium are simulated by neutron bursts in a non-multiplying medium produced by a pulsed neutron source. To simulate the chain reaction, the pulsed neutron source is triggered by neutronic signals from a detector installed in that medium. The kinetic parameters can be changed at will by regulating the detector sensitivity, the system medium and the burst yield of the pulsed neutron source. This simulator has been tested on experiments with Rossi-a, Feynman-a and pulse die away methods and is also applied to the experiments with waiting time method and observation of neutron families to verify the recently developed theory in this domain. The results prove that, in principle, the number of neutrons in this simulator can represent the probabilistic nature of the neutrons in a multiplying medium described by one point model. Furthermore, the newly developed theory for reactor parameter measurement has been substantiated with use of the simulator. The simulator in its present form is restricted in applicable range to keff=0–0.66 by limitations in the performance of the pulsed neutron source used.

The General Purpose Powder Diffractometer (GPPD), a high resolution (∆d/d=0.002) time-of-flight instrument, exhibits a resolution function that is almost independent of d-spacing. Some of the special properties of time-of-flight scattering data obtained at a pulsed neutron source will be discussed. A method is described that transforms wavelength dependent data, obtained at a pulsed neutron source, so that standard structural least-squares analyses can be applied. Several criteria are given to show when these techniques are useful in time-of-flight data analysis.

The dynamic method for time-of-flight measurement of thermal neutron spectra from pulsed sources

Experimental validation of the brightness distribution on the surfaces of coupled and decoupled moderators composed of 99.8% parahydrogen at the J-PARC pulsed spallation neutron source

Proposal of a wide-band mirror polarizer of slow neutrons at a pulsed neutron source

Diffraction method for magnon studies at the pulsed neutron source