Design and operation of a DANCE/LANSCE fission-tagging detector

ORAL

Abstract

The 4$\pi $ BaF$_{2}$ Detector for Advanced Neutron Capture Experiments (DANCE) at Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE) was designed and built to measure neutron capture cross sections, X(n,$\gamma )$, for small, sub-milligram, radioactive samples. The DANCE beam-line at the Lujan Center provides neutrons from thermal to about one hundred keV permitting X(n,$\gamma )$ measurements over a large energy range. However, one difficultly in the neutron capture measurement on actinides is the contribution of the fission component X(n,f) to the measured gamma-ray spectrum. The solution to this dilemma is the addition of a fission-tag to the event. The fission-tagging detector is a cylindrical ppac (parallel plate avalanche counter) collocated with the fissionable sample. The response of the detector to fission fragment pairs would provide the necessary event information to separate the (n,$\gamma )$ and (n,f) reactions. A detailed description of the design and operation of the gas-handling system will be presented, together with details of the design and operation of the fission-tagging detector.$\backslash $Work performed under the auspices of the U.S. DoE by the University of California,Alamos National Laboratory (W-7405-ENG-36), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (W-7405-ENG-48) and the U.S. NSF by the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (PHY-0110253). Work benefited from use of Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (W-7405-ENG-36).

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Authors

  • R.R.C. Clement

    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550, USA

  • M. Fowler

    • Sumner Associates, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501, USA

  • J.A. Becker

    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550, USA

  • T.A. Bredeweg

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA

  • R.A. Macri

    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550, USA

  • D.J. Vieira

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA

  • C.Y. Wu

  • U. Agvaanluvsan

    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550, USA

  • M. Chadwick

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA

  • K. Moody

    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550, USA

  • J. O'Donnell

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA

  • W. Parker

    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550, USA

  • R. Reifarth

  • R.S. Rundberg

  • J. Schwantes

  • J. Ullmann

  • J. Wilhelmy

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA

  • P. Wilk

    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550, USA

  • J.M. Wouters

    • Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA

  • J. Yurkon

    • National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA