Optimization of Hardware for Tagged Neutron Technology

Abstract

The possibility of background suppression by spatial and time discrimination of events stipulates the potentialities of the Nanosecond Tagged Neutron Technology (NTNT) for various application, e.g., for remote detection of wide range of explosives and flammable agents. For practical realization of NTNT the time resolution of pulses from gamma-detectors with respect to the associated pulses from alpha-detector should be close to 1 ns. The total intensity of signals can exceed 1 · 10⁶ 1/s from all gamma-detectors and 1 · 10⁷ 1/s from the alpha-detector. The processing of such stream of data without losses and distortion of information is one of challenging problems of NTNT. It is suggested to implement the preliminary “on-line” data processing by hardware. The architecture of data acquisition and control system and examples of realization are considered. Another important problem of NTNT is a choice of proper gamma-detectors to provide sufficient efficiency, amplitude and time resolution of measurements. With this aim, gammadetectors based on NaI, BaF2, LYSO, and BGO crystals were assembled; the crystals were coupled with fast photomultipliers of similar series for more unambiguous interpretation of measurements. The results of experiments and features of detectors as applied to the NTNT systems are discussed.