M. Sc. degree
Lund University, Sweden, 2019

Vendula Maulerova

Supervisor: Kevin Fissum

Vanadium-based neutron-beam monitor

Keywords:

• Beam-line instrumentation
• Neutron detectors
• Gamma detectors

Abstract:

A prototype invasive (quasi-parasitic) thermal-neutron beam monitor based on isotropic neutron scattering from a thin natural Vanadium foil and standard 3-He proportional counters has been conceptualized, designed, simulated, calibrated, and commissioned. As the beam monitor is invasive, very low neutron-beam attenuation is a necessary characteristic. Further, response linearity over as wide a range of rates as possible is highly desirable. The prototype was first calibrated using radioactive neutron sources at the Source-Testing Facility at the Division of Nuclear Physics in Lund, Sweden. Subsequently, the prototype was commissioned with beams of neutrons at the V17 and V20 beamlines of the Helmholtz Zentrum in Berlin, Germany. Both low attenuation and response linearity have been successfully demonstrated, indicating the concept is viable and worth continued development efforts. In this thesis, a monographic overview of the development of the prototype is presented.