Monte Carlo analysis of a mercuric iodide neutron/gamma detector

Author

Bell, Zane W. ; West, W. Geoffrey ; Pohl, Kenneth R. ; Van den Berg, Lodewijk

Author_Institution

Nucl. Sci. & Technol. Div., Oak Ridge Nat. Lab., TN, USA

Volume

52

Issue

5

fYear

2005

Firstpage

2030

Lastpage

2034

Abstract

The response to neutrons of a 27×27×2.6 mm HgI₂ detector covered on one face with a layer of boron was modeled with MCNP5 and MCNP-PoliMi. It was found that the detection of the 478 keV gamma ray from the ¹⁰B(n,α) and the 368 keV gamma ray from the ¹⁹⁹Hg(n,α) could be used to estimate the average energy of incident neutrons and that these gamma rays could be used to distinguish between unmoderated radioactive and fission sources.

Keywords

Monte Carlo methods; gamma-ray detection; neutron-nucleus reactions; radioactive sources; semiconductor counters; ¹⁰B(n, alpha); ¹⁹⁹Hg(n, alpha); HgI₂ detector; MCNP-PoliMi; MCNP5; Monte Carlo analysis; boron layer; fission sources; gamma ray detection; mercuric iodide gamma detector; mercuric iodide neutron detector; unmoderated radioactive source; Aluminum; Boron; Face detection; Gamma ray detection; Gamma ray detectors; Gamma rays; Monte Carlo methods; Neutrons; Polyethylene; Printed circuits; Mercuric iodide; Monte Carlo methods; neutron detectors;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Nuclear Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9499

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TNS.2005.856764

Filename

1546548