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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 235 records · Page 13
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Multiplicity counting using organic scintillators to distinguish neutron sources: An advanced teaching laboratory

In this advanced instructional laboratory, students explore complex detection systems and nondestructive assay techniques used in the field of nuclear physics. After setting up and calibrating a neutron detection system, students carry out timing and energy deposition analyses of radiation signals. Through the timing of prompt fission neutron signals, multiplicity counting is used to carry out a special nuclear material (SNM) nondestructive assay. Our experimental setup is comprised of eight trans-stilbene organic scintillation detectors in a well-counter configuration, and measurements are taken on a spontaneous fission source as well as two (α,n) sources. By comparing each source's measured multiplicity distribution, the resulting measurements of the (α,n) sources can be distinguished from that of the spontaneous fission source. Such comparisons prevent the spoofing, i.e., intentional imitation, of a fission source by an (α,n) neutron source. This instructional laboratory is designed for nuclear engineering and physics students interested in organic scintillators, neutron sources, and nonproliferation radiation measurement techniques.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2023

Operation of the Fast Neutron Coincidence Collar (FNCL) with a DD-Neutron Generator

For more than 30 years, the quantitative assay of the 235 U content of light water reactor fresh fuel assemblies relied on measuring coincidence neutrons from fissions induced by an Am(Li) neutron source using 3 He based detectors. The Fast Neutron Collar (FNCL) developed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), replaces traditional 3 He proportional counters with an array of liquid scintillator detectors arranged about the fuel assembly to provide improved measurement precision and reduced sensitivity to gadolinium poison rods. The FNCL relies on Am(Li) neutron sources that are no longer commercially available. This work examines the replacement of Am(Li) sources with a commercial off the-shelf deuterium–deuterium (DD) neutron generator. In addition to mitigating supply concerns, the neutron generator offers advantages in measurement precision and potential automation of sequential passive/active neutron measurements. This report presents the initial performance results for both the integrated DD/FNCL and Am(Li)/FNCL assays of compact depleted uranium, low-enriched uranium, and highly enriched uranium standards along with an estimate of the expected performance for fresh fuel assemblies. A discussion of the design and operation of the “FNCL Analysis and Simulation Software” is also provided.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
NASA NTRS1974

A new magnetic spectrometer system for cosmic ray studies

The balloon flight prototype or a cosmic ray superconducting magnet experiment designed for operation on the Space Shuttle is described. The physical and operating parameters of the scintillation, Cerenkov, emulsion and multiwire proportional counters used in the system for charge and rigidity measurements is given as well as the on-board data handling procedures.

Golden, R. L.↗
NASA NTRS1978

The University of Chicago cosmic ray electrons and nuclei experiment on the H spacecraft

The University of Chicago instrument on the Heliocentric spacecraft (MEH experiment) will measure the energy spectrum of cosmic electrons in the range 5-400 MeV. In addition, the energy spectra and relative abundances of nuclei from protons to the iron group, with energies ranging from 30 MeV/n to 15 GeV/n, will be determined. Primary scientific objectives involve the study of the long and short term variability of these components as a probe of the structure of the heliosphere. Particles are identified by multiparameter analysis using the pulse height analyzed signals from eight active detectors - silicon solid state, plastic and crystal scintillators are solid and gas Cerenkov counters. Data return is optimized by a three level priority logic scheme.

Meyer, P.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Cosmic ray detectors

Work on the MSFC emulsion laboratory microscopes in which mechanical modifications previously made were verified is reviewed, as is a design study of a large area hybrid electronic/emulsion chamber balloon flight detector system. This design is built upon the experience obtained with the highly successful MSFC/UAH hybrid instrument flown by the JACEE consortium. The design included overall system design and specification, design and fabrication of a prototype large light diffusion for Cerenkov charge detector or scintillator, design of a multiwire proportional counter array and design of the gondola or flight support system.

Gregory, John C.↗
NASA NTRS1987

A program to study antiprotons in the cosmic rays: Arizona collaboration

The Low Energy AntiProton (LEAP) experiment was designed to measure the primary antiproton flux in the 200 MeV to 1 GeV kinetic energy range. A superconducting magnetic spectrometer, a time-of-flight (TOF) detector, and a Cherenkov counter are the main components of LEAP. An additional scintillation detector was designed and constructed to detect the passage of particles through the bottom of the Cherenkov counter. The LEAP package was launched on August 22, 1987, and enjoyed a 27 hour flight, with 23 hours of data at high altitude. Preliminary plans for data analysis include using the Micro-Vax at the University of Arizona for data reduction of the Cherenkov and S2 signals.

Bowen, Theodore↗
NASA NTRS2008

Electron Calorimeter Experiment

Boron loaded scintillators are suitable for measuring secondary neutrons produced by high-energy particles: protons & electrons Neutron flux can be used to discriminate hadron and electro-magnetic particles Combined effectiveness of all e/p discriminators techniques employedTBD Only moderate improvement in detection efficiency for B-10 concentrations >few% in thick moderators Bottom scintillator might serve as cascade penetration counter (TBC)

Adams, James H.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Neutron Measurements for Radiation Protection in Low Earth Orbit - History and Future

The neutron environment inside spacecraft has been of interest from a scientific and radiation protection perspective since early in the history of manned spaceflight. With 1:.1e exception of a few missions which carried plutonium-fueled radioisotope thermoelectric generators, all of the neutrons inside the spacecraft are secondary radiations resulting from interactions of high-energy charged particles with nuclei in the Earth's atmosphere, spacecraft structural materials, and the astronaut's own bodies. Although of great interest, definitive measurements of the spacecraft neutron field have been difficult due to the wide particle energy range and the limited available volume and power for traditional techniques involving Bonner spheres. A multitude of measurements, however, have been made of the neutron environment inside spacecraft. The majority of measurements were made using passive techniques including metal activation fo ils, fission foils, nuclear photoemulsions, plastic track detectors, and thermoluminescent detectors. Active measurements have utilized proton recoil spectrometers (stilbene), Bonner Spheres eRe proportional counter based), and LiI(Eu)phoswich scintillation detectors. For the International Space Station (ISS), only the plastic track! thermoluminescent detectors are used with any regularity. A monitoring program utilizing a set of active Bonner spheres was carried out in the ISS Lab module from March - December 200l. These measurements provide a very limited look at the crew neutron exposure, both in time coverage and neutron energy coverage. A review of the currently published data from past flights will be made and compared with the more recent results from the ISS. Future measurement efforts using currently available techniques and those in development will be also discussed.

Golightly, M. J.↗
NASA NTRS1983

Use of relativistic rise in ionization chambers for measurement of high energy heavy nuclei

A balloon-borne instrument has been constructed to measure the energy spectra of cosmic-ray heavy nuclei in the range of about 0.3 to about 100 GeV/amu. It makes use of the relativistic rise portion of the Bethe-Bloch curve in ionization chambers for energy determination in the 10- to 100-GeV/amu interval. The instrument consists of six layers of dual-gap ionization chambers for energy determination above 10 GeV/amu. Charge is determined with a NE114 scintillator and a Pilot 425 plastic Cerenkov counter. A CO2 gas Cerenkov detector (1 atm; threshold of 30 GeV/amu) calibrates the ion chambers in the relativistic rise region. The main emphasis of the instrument is the determination of the change of the ratio of Iron (26) to the Iron secondaries (21-25) in the energy range of 10 to 100 GeV/amu. Preliminary data from a balloon flight in the fall of 1982 from Palestine, TX is presented.

Barthelmy, S. D.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Cosmic Ray Nuclei (CRN) detector investigation

The Cosmic Ray Nuclei (CRN) detector was designed to measure elemental composition and energy spectra of cosmic radiation nuclei ranging from lithium to iron. CRN was flown as part of Spacelab 2 in 1985, and consisted of three basic components: a gas Cerenkov counter, a transition radiation detector, and plastic scintillators. The results of the experiment indicate that the relative abundance of elements in this range, traveling at near relativistic velocities, is similar to those reported at lower energy.

Meyer, Peter↗
NASA NTRS1991

A statistical rain attenuation prediction model with application to the advanced communication technology satellite project. 3: A stochastic rain fade control algorithm for satellite link power via non linear Markow filtering theory

The dynamic and composite nature of propagation impairments that are incurred on Earth-space communications links at frequencies in and above 30/20 GHz Ka band, i.e., rain attenuation, cloud and/or clear air scintillation, etc., combined with the need to counter such degradations after the small link margins have been exceeded, necessitate the use of dynamic statistical identification and prediction processing of the fading signal in order to optimally estimate and predict the levels of each of the deleterious attenuation components. Such requirements are being met in NASA's Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS) Project by the implementation of optimal processing schemes derived through the use of the Rain Attenuation Prediction Model and nonlinear Markov filtering theory.

Manning, Robert M.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Observation of EAS using a large water tank

Using a large water tank (30 m in diameter, 4.5 m in depth) transition of extensive air showers (EAS) was investigated at Taro (200 m above sea level). There are set 150,0.4 sq m proportional counters on the bottom of the water tank. A conventional EAS array of 25 plastic scintillation detectors was arranged within several tens meter from the water tank. A proportional counter (10x10x200 cc x2) is made of a square shaped pipe of iron. Tungsten wire (100 mu m phi) is stretched tight in the center of the counter. A gas mixture of 90% argon and 10% methane is used at 760 mmHg. About 3000 EAS were obtained through 1 m of water since 1984.

Inoue, K.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Reduction of detection limit and quantification uncertainty due to interferent by neural classification with abstention

Many measurements in the physical sciences can be cast as counting experiments, where the number of occurrences of a physical phenomenon informs the prevalence of the phenomenon's source. Often, detection of the physical phenomenon (termed signal) is difficult to distinguish from naturally occurring phenomena (termed background). In this case, the discrimination of signal events from background can be performed using classifiers, and they may range from simple, threshold-based classifiers to sophisticated neural networks. These classifiers are often trained and validated to obtain optimal accuracy, however we show that the optimal accuracy classifier does not generally coincide with a classifier that provides the lowest detection limit, nor the lowest quantification uncertainty. Here, we present a derivation of the detection limit and quantification uncertainty in the classifier-based counting experiment case. We also present a novel abstention mechanism to minimize the detection limit or quantification uncertainty a posteriori. We illustrate the method on two data sets from the physical sciences, discriminating Ar-37 and Ar-39 radioactive decay from non-radioactive events in a gas proportional counter, and discriminating neutrons from gammas in an inorganic scintillator and report results therefrom.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
NASA NTRS1978

High energy cosmic ray iron spectrum experiment

An instrument containing a gas Cerenkov counter and an iron ionization spectrometer was constructed in order to measure the cosmic-ray iron spectrum to 300 GeV/nucleon. Trajectories of particles were determined by entopistic or position-determining scintillator systems. The geometric factors with and without the gas Cerenkov counter were 0.3 and 0.6 sq m-ster, respectively. The instrument was successfully flown in June 1976 without the spectrometer and in October 1976 with the spectrometer from Palestine, Texas. The June flight yielded 14.5 h of data; the October flight, 25 h.

Arens, J. F.↗
NASA NTRS1969

Direct determination of lead-210 by liquid-scintillation counting

Soft betas, the internal conversion electrons, and unconverted gamma rays from lead-210 are efficiently detected in a liquid scintillation counting system with efficiency of 97 percent. The counter is interfaced with a multichannel pulse height analyzer. The spectra obtained is stored on paper tape and plotted on an x-y plotter.

Fairman, W. D.↗
NASA NTRS1979

Study of mass flow distribution and chemical composition of comets from solar induced X-ray fluorescence

The expected performance of an X-ray detector as an instrument aboard a mission to a comet was evaluated. The functions of the detector are both nondispersive analysis of chemical composition and measurement of mass flow from the comet nucleus. Measurements are to be carried out at a distance from the comet. The approach distances considered are of the order of 1000 km and 100 km. A new type of X-ray detector, a proportional scintillation detector, is considered as an X-ray counter for nondispersive elemental analysis.

Gorenstein, P.↗
NASA NTRS2008

Cherenkov and Scintillation Properties of Cubic Zirconium

Cubic zirconium (CZ) is a high index of refraction (n =2.17) material that we have investigated for Cherenkov counter applications. Laboratory and proton accelerator tests of an 18cc sample of CZ show that the expected fast Cherenkov response is accompanied by a longer scintillation component that can be separated by pulse shaping. This presents the possibility of novel particle spectrometers which exploits both properties of CZ. Other high index materials being examined for Cherenkov applications will be discussed. Results from laboratory tests and an accelerator exposure will be presented and a potential application in solar energetic particle instruments will be discussed

Christl, M.J.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Multiplicity trigger detector for the S π RIT experiment

A multiplicity trigger detector (MTD) was developed for the SπRIT experiment that aims to probe the high- density symmetry energy via heavy-ion collisions (HICs). The MTD is designed to measure the charged-particle multiplicity in HICs to provide a trigger signal that can be used to select high-multiplicity events induced by central collisions. The MTD consists of two side-walls segmented into 30 plastic scintillation paddles, each equipped with a multi-pixel photon counter. A custom board with EASIROC front-end ASIC is used as readout electronics. A multiplicity logic signal is generated by an on-board FPGA that processes the discriminated signals from EASIROCs. The overall latency of the whole detector system for outputting the trigger is less than 100 ns, including 52 ns of electronics latency for processing the signals. During the measurement of 112 Sn + 124 Sn reactions at an incident energy of 270 MeV/nucleon, the minimum multiplicity threshold of the MTD was set to 4, where the overall trigger efficiency was obtained to be about 39 % for inclusive nuclear reactions. Furthermore, a simulation study with a numerical calculation of HICs found that the central collisions of impact parameters of less than 4 fm can be triggered with a high efficiency of more than 95 % by the experimental trigger condition.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗