Dynamic temperature and velocity measurements using neutron resonance spectroscopy

The use of Doppler broadening in neutron resonances as a quantitative way to measure temperatures has been proposed and investigated for cases of static or quasi-static temperature measurements. Neutrons are temperature probes that can penetrate a sample to view its interior. At the same time products that may shield a sample optically are not opaque to neutrons so that temperature measurements can be made in their presence. When neutrons are attenuated by a sample material, the time-of-flight (TOF) spectrum of the transmitted neutrons exhibits a series of characteristic dips or resonances. These resonances appear when neutrons are captured from the beam in the formation of excited states in the A + 1 nucleus (n + A {ge} (A + 1){sup *}). Subsequent de-excitation of these states, by gamma emission or particle emission into 4{pi} steradians, effectively eliminates the captured neutrons from the transmitted beam. The resonance locations and lineshapes which appear in the TOF spectrum are unique to each isotopic element, and temperature determinations can be localized through the positioning of resonant tags