A boron-coated CCD camera for direct detection of Ultracold Neutrons (UCN)
| Title: | A boron-coated CCD camera for direct detection of Ultracold Neutrons (UCN) |
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| Authors: | Kuk, K., Cude-Woods, C., Chavez, C. R., Choi, J. H., Estrada, J., Hoffbauer, M., Makela, M., Merkel, P., Morris, C. L., Ramberg, E., Wang, Z., Bailey, T., Blatnik, M., Adamek, E. R., Broussard, L. J., Brown, M. A. -P., Callahan, N. B., Clayton, S. M., Currie, S. A., Ding, X., Dinger, D., Filippone, B., Fries, E. M., Geltenbort, P., George, E., Gonzalez, F., Hickerson, K. P., Hoffman, K., Holley, A. T., Ito, T. M., MacDonald, S. W. T., Liu, C. -Y., O'Shaughnessy, C., Pattie, Jr., R. W., Phillips II, D. G., Plaster, B., Salvat, D. J., Saunders, A., Seestrom, S., Sharapov, E. I., Sjue, S. K. L., Su, V., Sun, X., Tang, Z., Walstrom, P. L., Wei, W., Wexler, J. W., Womack, T. L., Young, A. R., Zeck, B. A., collaboration, UCN |
| Source: | Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A, Volume 1003, 1 July 2021, 165306 |
| Publication Year: | 2019 |
| Collection: | Nuclear Experiment Physics (Other) |
| Subject Terms: | Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors, Nuclear Experiment |
| More Details: | A new boron-coated CCD camera is described for direct detection of ultracold neutrons (UCN) through the capture reactions $^{10}$B (n,$\alpha$0$\gamma$)$^7$Li (6%) and $^{10}$B(n,$\alpha$1$\gamma$)$^7$Li (94%). The experiments, which extend earlier works using a boron-coated ZnS:Ag scintillator, are based on direct detections of the neutron-capture byproducts in silicon. The high position resolution, energy resolution and particle ID performance of a scientific CCD allows for observation and identification of all the byproducts $\alpha$, $^7$Li and $\gamma$ (electron recoils). A signal-to-noise improvement on the order of 10$^4$ over the indirect method has been achieved. Sub-pixel position resolution of a few microns is demonstrated. The technology can also be used to build UCN detectors with an area on the order of 1 m$^2$. The combination of micrometer scale spatial resolution, few electrons ionization thresholds and large area paves the way to new research avenues including quantum physics of UCN and high-resolution neutron imaging and spectroscopy. Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures |
| Document Type: | Working Paper |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.nima.2021.165306 |
| Access URL: | http://arxiv.org/abs/1903.01335 |
| Accession Number: | edsarx.1903.01335 |
| Database: | arXiv |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.nima.2021.165306 |
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