The new prompt gamma-ray activation facility at the Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland

Since October 1997, a new Prompt Gamma-ray Activation (PGA) facility at the neutron spallation source SINQ of the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Villigen, Switzerland, is operational. The detection system includes a Compton-suppression spectrometer and a pair spectrometer. An interesting feature of this PGA facility is the capillary-based neutron focusing optics which permits scanning of samples and nuclear spectroscopy of isotopes having small capture cross sections. During the beam periods 1997 and 1998, measurements were undertaken to characterize the PGA facility (gamma-ray background, efficiencies of the two spectrometers, analytical sensitivities and detection limits for several elements, performances of the neutron lens). Elemental analyses of standards were also performed.