Active target TPC for study of photonuclear reactions at astrophysical energies

A setup designed to study photonuclear reactions at astrophysical energies - an active target Time Projection Chamber was developed and constructed at the Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw. The device was successfully employed in two experiments at the Institute of Nuclear Physics Polish Academy of Sciences in Cracow, in which {\gamma}- and neutron-induced reactions with CO2 gas target were measured. The reaction products were detected and their momenta reconstructed. Preliminary results are shown.Comment: Presented at Zakopane Conference on Nuclear Physics 202

Numerical optimisation of the fission-converter and the filter/moderator arrangement for the Boron Neutron Capture Therapy

The paper presents results of the numerical modelling of the fission-converter-based epithermal neutron source designed for a BNCT (Boron Neutron Capture Therapy) facility to be located at the Polish research nuclear reactor MARIA at Świerk. The unique design of the fission converter has been proposed due to a specific geometrical surrounding of the reactor. The filter/moderator arrangement has been optimised in order to moderate fission neutrons to epithermal energies and to get rid of both fast neutrons and photons from the therapeutic beam. The selected filter/moderator set-up ensures both the high epithermal neutron flux and the suitably low level of beam contamination. The elimination of photons originated in the reactor core is an exceptional advantage of the proposed design. It brings one order of magnitude lower gamma radiation dose than the permissible dose in such a type of therapeutic facility is required. The MCNP and FLUKA codes have been used for the computations

CVD diamond detectors for fast alpha particles escaping from the tokamak D-T plasma

Measurements of the so-called lost alpha particles escaping from thermonuclear plasma in future tokamaks (such as ITER) for energy production would be essential for monitoring the energy balance in these devices. The detection would have to be carried out in a harsh environment (with high nuclear radiation fluxes, high temperature, etc.), which limits the use of common semiconductors for charged particle detection. Diamond seems to be an attractive material for alpha particle detectors in these conditions. In this paper an analysis of properties of a diamond detector for spectrometric alpha measurements is reported. A high purity CVD (chemical vapour deposition) single crystal diamond detector was used, fabricated for this dedicated application by the Diamond Detector Ltd. The energy calibration was carried out using a triple alpha particle isotope source, AMR33 (239Pu, 241Am, 244Cm). A very good energy resolution, ca. 20 keV at ca. 5.5 MeV had been obtained, which is comparable to that of the silicon detector. The linearity of the diamond detector amplitude response to the alpha particle energy was analyzed with the use of mono-energetic (0.4–2 MeV) ion beam from a Van de Graaff accelerator. Results of the measurements using the AMR33 source deviate at most 30 keV from the calibration line obtained in this way