A SENSITIVE, HIGH RESOLUTION IMAGING DETECTOR FOR COLD NEUTRONS

A NOVEL PHOTOSTIMULABLE PHOSPHOR IMAGING TECHNIQUE IS PROPOSED TO REPLACE BULKY COUNTING SYSTEMS CURRENTLY USED IN NEUTRON DIFFRACTION AND SCATTERING INVESTIGATIONS. THE SIZE AND SHAPE OF THE PROPOSED DETECTOR CAN BE VARIED TO MAKE IT POSSIBLE TO MOVE THE DETECTION SYSTEM CLOSER TO THE SCATTERING SAMPLE, THEREBY INCREASING THE NEUTRONS AVAILABLE FOR DETECTION AND SHRINKING THE SIZE OF THE EXPERIMENTAL FACILITY. IN ADDITION, THE FORM OF THE DETECTOR WILL MAKE IT POSSIBLE TO DETECT SCATTERED NEUTRONS IN MANY DIRECTIONS AT THE SAME TIME, RATHER THAN SEQUENTIALLY AS IS NOW DONE WITH SOME COUNTING SYSTEMS, THEREBY SIGNIFICANTLY SHORTENING THE TIME NEEDED TO COLLECT SCATTERING DATA. THE PHASE 1 PROGRAM WILL INCLUDE A THEORETICAL ANALYSIS AND EXPERIMENTAL WORK WITH SEVERAL CONVERSION SCREENS, THUS DEMONSTRATING THAT THIS IMAGING METHOD WILL PRODUCE QUANTITATIVE, HIGH SPATIAL RESULTS IN RELATIVELY SHORT TIME PERIODS.