Applications of a micro-pixel chamber (μPIC) based, time-resolved neutron imaging detector at pulsed neutron beams

1st Conference on Light and Particle Beams in Materials Science 2013

物理学;材料科学

Parker, J.D.^1 ; Harada, M.^2 ; Hattori, K.^1 ; Iwaki, S.^1 ; Kabuki, S.^1 ; Kishimoto, Y.^1 ; Kubo, H.^1,3 ; Kurosawa, S.^1 ; Matsuoka, Y.^1 ; Miuchi, K.^4 ; Mizumoto, T.^1 ; Nishimura, H.^1 ; Oku, T.^2 ; Sawano, T.^1 ; Shinohara, T.^2 ; Suzuki, J.-I.^2 ; Takada, A.^1 ; Tanimori, T.^1 ; Ueno, K.^1 ; Ikeno, M.^3,5 ; Tanaka, M.^3,5 ; Uchida, T.^3,5

Department of Physics, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan^1

Materials and Life Science Facility Division, Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Ibaraki 319-1195, Tokyo, Japan^2

Open Source Consortium of Instrumentation (Open-It), KEK, Ibaraki 305-0801, Tsukuba, Japan^3

Department of Physics, Kobe University, Hyogo 657-8501, Japan^4

Institute of Particle and Nuclear Studies, KEK, Ibaraki 305-0801, Tsukuba, Japan^5

关键词: Bragg-edge transmissions;    Data acquisition system;    External magnetic field;    High-resolution imaging;    Neutron imaging detectors;    Polarized neutrons;    Pulsed neutron beams;    Pulsed spallation neutron sources;   

Others  :  https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/502/1/012048/pdf
DOI  :  10.1088/1742-6596/502/1/012048

学科分类：材料科学（综合）

来源: IOP

【 摘 要 】

The realization of high-intensity, pulsed spallation neutron sources such as J-PARC in Japan and SNS in the US has brought time-of-flight (TOF) based neutron techniques to the fore and spurred the development of new detector technologies. When combined with high-resolution imaging, TOF-based methods become powerful tools for direct imaging of material properties, including crystal structure/internal strain, isotopic/temperature distributions, and internal and external magnetic fields. To carry out such measurements in the high-intensities and high gamma backgrounds found at spallation sources, we have developed a new time-resolved neutron imaging detector employing a micro-pattern gaseous detector known as the micro-pixel chamber (μPIC) coupled with a field-programmable-gate-array-based data acquisition system. The detector combines 100μm-level (σ) spatial and sub-μs time resolutions with low gamma sensitivity of less than 10-12and a rate capability on the order of Mcps (mega-counts-per-second). Here, we demonstrate the application of our detector to TOF-based techniques with examples of Bragg-edge transmission and neutron resonance transmission imaging (with computed tomography) carried out at J-PARC. We also consider the direct imaging of magnetic fields with our detector using polarized neutrons.