Superheated drop as a neutron spectrometer

Superheated drops are known to vaporise when exposed to energetic nuclear radiation since the discovery of bubble chamber. The application of superheated drops in neutron research especially in neutron dosimetry is a subject of intense research for quite sometime. As the degree of superheat increases in a given liquid, less and less energetic neutrons are required to cause nucleation. This property of superheated liquid makes it possible to use it as a neutron spectrometer. Neutron detection efficiency of superheated drops made of R12 exposed to Am–Be neutron source has been measured over a wide range of temperature −17–60°C and the results have been utilised to construct the energy spectrum of the neutron source. This paper demonstrates that a suitable neutron spectrometer may be constructed by using a single liquid and varying the temperature of the liquid suitably at a closer grid.