Investigation of gamma-ray sensitivity of neutron detectors based on thin converter films

Currently, many detector technologies for thermal neutron detection are in development in order to lower the demand for the rare 3He gas. Gas detectors with solid thin film neutron converters readout by gas proportional counter method have been proposed as an appropriate choice for applications where large area coverage is necessary. In this paper, we investigate the probability for gamma-rays to generate a false count in a neutron measurement. Simulated results are compared to measurement with a 10B thin film prototype and a 3He detector. It is demonstrated that equal gamma-ray rejection to that of 3He tubes is achieved with the new technology. The arguments and results presented here are also applicable to gas detectors with converters other than solid 10B layers, such as 6Li layers and 10BF3 gas.Comment: Submitted to Journal of Instrumentatio

Overcoming High Energy Backgrounds at Pulsed Spallation Sources

Instrument backgrounds at neutron scattering facilities directly affect the quality and the efficiency of the scientific measurements that users perform. Part of the background at pulsed spallation neutron sources is caused by, and time-correlated with, the emission of high energy particles when the proton beam strikes the spallation target. This prompt pulse ultimately produces a signal, which can be highly problematic for a subset of instruments and measurements due to the time-correlated properties, and different to that from reactor sources. Measurements of this background have been made at both SNS (ORNL, Oak Ridge, TN, USA) and SINQ (PSI, Villigen, Switzerland). The background levels were generally found to be low compared to natural background. However, very low intensities of high-energy particles have been found to be detrimental to instrument performance in some conditions. Given that instrument performance is typically characterised by S/N, improvements in backgrounds can both improve instrument performance whilst at the same time delivering significant cost savings. A systematic holistic approach is suggested in this contribution to increase the effectiveness of this. Instrument performance should subsequently benefit.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures. Proceedings of ICANS XXI (International Collaboration on Advanced Neutron Sources), Mito, Japan. 201

Neutron Position Sensitive Detectors for the ESS

The European Spallation Source (ESS) in Lund, Sweden will become the world's leading neutron source for the study of materials. The instruments are being selected from conceptual proposals submitted by groups from around Europe. These instruments present numerous challenges for detector technology in the absence of the availability of Helium-3, which is the default choice for detectors for instruments built until today and due to the extreme rates expected across the ESS instrument suite. Additionally a new generation of source requires a new generation of detector technologies to fully exploit the opportunities that this source provides. The detectors will be sourced from partners across Europe through numerous in-kind arrangements; a process that is somewhat novel for the neutron scattering community. This contribution presents briefly the current status of detectors for the ESS, and outlines the timeline to completion. For a conjectured instrument suite based upon instruments recommended for construction, a recently updated snapshot of the current expected detector requirements is presented. A strategy outline as to how these requirements might be tackled by novel detector developments is shown. In terms of future developments for the neutron community, synergies should be sought with other disciples, as recognized by various recent initiatives in Europe, in the context of the fundamentally multi-disciplinary nature of detectors. This strategy has at its basis the in-kind and collaborative partnerships necessary to be able to produce optimally performant detectors that allow the ESS instruments to be world-leading. This foresees and encourages a high level of collaboration and interdependence at its core, and rather than each group being all-rounders in every technology, the further development of centres of excellence across Europe for particular technologies and niches.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure. Proceedings from the 23rd International Workshop on Vertex Detectors, 15-19 September 2014, Macha Lake, The Czech Republic. PoS(Vertex2014)02

Applications of Pulse Shape Analysis Techniques for Segmented Planar Germanium Detectors

The application of pulse shape analysis (PSA) and γ-ray tracking techniques has attracted a great deal of interest in the recent years in fields ranging from nuclear structure studies to medical imaging. These new data analysis methods add position sensitivity as well as directional information for the detected γ-rays to the excellent energy resolution of germanium detectors. This thesis focuses on the application of PSA on planar segmented germanium detectors, divided into three separate studies. The pulse shape analysis technique known as the matrix method was chosen due to its ability to treat events with arbitrary number and combinations of interactions within a single detector. It has been applied in two experiments with the 25-fold segmented planar pixel detector -- imaging and polarization measurements -- as well as in a simulation of upcoming detectors for DESPEC at NuSTAR/FAIR. In the first experiment, a point source of 137Cs was imaged. Events where the 662 keV γ-rays scattered once and were then absorbed in a different segment were treated by the PSA algorithm in order to find the locations of these interactions. The Compton scattering formula was then used to determine the direction to the source. The experiment has provided a robust test of the performance of the PSA algorithm on multiple interaction events, in particular those with interactions in adjacent segments, as well as allowed to estimate the realistically attainable position resolution. In the second experiment, the response of the detector to polarized photons of 288 keV was studied. The polarization of photons can be measured through the observation of the angular distribution of Compton-scattered photons, Hence the ability to resolve the interaction locations had once again proven useful. The third study is focused on the performance of the proposed planar germanium detectors for the DESPEC array. As these detectors have not yet been manufactured at the time of this writing, a set of data simulated in GEANT4 was used. The detector response was calculated for two of the possible segmentation patterns -- that with a single pixelated contact and one where both contacts are segmented into mutually orthogonal strips. In both cases, PSA was applied in order to reconstruct the interaction locations from this response. It was found that the double-sided strip detector can achieve an over-all better position resolution with a given number of readout channels. However, this comes at the expense of a small number of complex events where the reconstruction fails. These results have also been compared to the performance of the 25-fold pixelated detector.QC 2010111

Position-sensitive germanium detectors for gamma-ray tracking, imaging and polarimetry

Modern germanium detectors are often manufactured with two-dimensionally segmented electrical contacts. Signals induced in each segment are read out simultaneously when a photon is detected. Detailed pulse shape analysis (PSA) of these signals allows to resolve positions of individual γ-ray interactions with a precision of at least a few mm. The track of a photon can then be reconstructed using γ-ray tracking. Using these techniques, highly efficient large-volume germanium detectors can replace detector systems where previously highly granulated detector arrays were required, and/or large fractions of photons had to be rejected. The ability to reconstruct the direction of an incoming photon and its scattering path makes it possible to use segmented detectors for γ-ray imaging and polarimetry. Doppler correction of photon energies in experiments where γ rays are emitted from fast ion beams can be greatly improved due to improved determination of the emission angle with respect to the beam. Furthermore, arrays of many detectors can be built without the need for conventional anticoincidence detectors for escape suppression. Instead, photons escaping a detector crystal can be tracked through neighbouring ones. In this work position reconstruction accuracy was evaluated for segmented detectors in a number of geometries in realistic applications. Particular emphasis has been put on the reconstruction of data sets containing events of arbitrary complexity in terms of the number of hit segments and interactions per segment. The imaging and polarization sensitivities of a single planar germanium pixel detector have been evaluated experimentally. In these measurements, photons absorbed in two, often adjacent, segments were reconstructed. Simulated interactions of γ-rays with the detectors of the proposed DESPEC germanium array were analysed yielding the position resolution obtainable in realistic experimental situations, as well as its dependence on photon energy, event complexity, noise and other sources of error.QC 20170222</p

Drivers of Engagement in Standardization and Relationship to Company Performance

Background:Engagement in technical standardization – both through following standards, as well as through participation in the creation of new standards – is an important part of the business strategy of a technology company. Companies face decisions on whether to participate, and if so, how, where and to what extent. Creation of standards is closely connected to company proprietary or patented information, making it difficult to balance the effects of intellectual property protection with the benefits and drawbacks of the open standardization process. Objectives: Limited studies exist that investigate the company choice to participate in standardization. We expand the concept of participation to include the intensity of participation, or engagement in standardization. We aim to understand the drivers of intensity of participation in standardization, and of the intensity of participation on financial performance. The existing theories about SSO engagement will be validated and further knowledge generated to better understand the effects of standardization participation at the firm level. Methodology: Panel data on company standardization participation, activities within innovation as well as size and financial performance have been collected for approximately 1700 ICT companies both participating and non-participating in standardization. Participation of companies in voluntary consensus standards has been measured for the case of participation in the Internet Engineering Task Force, IETF, using open records of this standardization consortium. The intensity of participation sheds light on the way in which companies pursue standardization. Correlations with company size, performance, R&amp;D spending and patenting intensity have been performed while taking into account the selection that defines whether a company participates in the standard-setting body, or not. Further, the effect of standardization participation on the financial performance has been studied. Results: Modelling the intensity of engagement in SSOs using the Heckman selection model reveals the dependence of the selection on R&amp;D budget, patenting activity and on company size, and a dependence of the intensity of participation on R&amp;D budget, company size and profitability. In turn, the profitability of a company is found to be partially driven by the engagement in standardization.  Conclusions: The results of the analysis show that the drivers of company participation are not necessarily the same as for the company participation intensity in standardization. The intensity of participation and financial performance are indeed found to be correlated. We theorize that firms which are the technology creators, are not necessarily the ones that reap the greatest benefit of the innovation.  Recommendations for future research: Further studies may expand on the present approach by including more than a single SSO in the analysis. Additionally, inclusion of private companies can shed further light on how the full range of company sizes relates to standardization engagement. Finally, temporal offsets may be included in the models in order to account for causality effects

Detectors for the European Spallation Source

The European Spallation Source (ESS) in Lund, Sweden will become the world's leading neutron source for the study of materials by 2025. First neutrons will be produced in 2019. It will be a long pulse source, with an average beam power of 5 MW delivered to the target station. The pulse length will be 2.86 ms and the repetition rate 14 Hz. The ESS is presently in a design update phase, which ends in February 2013 with a Technical Design Report (TDR). Construction will subsequently start with the goal of bringing the first seven instruments into operation in 2019 at the same time as the source. The full baseline suite of 22 instruments will be brought online by 2025. These instruments present numerous challenges for detector technology in the absence of the availability of Helium-3, which is the default choice for detectors for instruments built until today. Additionally a new generation of source requires a new generation of detector technologies to fully exploit the opportunities that this source provides. This contribution presents briefly the current status of the ESS, and outlines the timeline to completion. The number of instruments and the framework for the decisions on which instruments should be built are shown. For a conjectured full instrument suite, which has been chosen for demonstration purposes for the TDR, a snapshot of the current expected detector requirements is presented. An outline as to how some of these requirements might be tackled is shown. Given that the delivery of the ESS TDR is only a few months away, this contribution reflects strongly the content of the TDR