First Measurements with a Lead Slowing-Down Spectrometer at LANSCE

Abstract

Abstract. The characteristics of a Lead Slowing-Down Spectrometer (LSDS) installed at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE) are presented in this paper. This instrument is designed to study neutron-induced fission on ultra small quantities of actinides, on the order of tens of nanograms or less. The measurements of the energy-time relation, energy resolution and neutron flux are compared to simulations performed with MCNPX. Results on neutroninduced fission of 235 U and 239 Pu with tens of micrograms and tens of nanograms, respectively, are presented. Finally, a digital filter designed to improve the detection of fission events at short time after the proton pulses is described

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