Detector in the suitcase

A unique detector has been developed with the branches of the Institute of Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Troitsk). It consists of 16 quartz sections filled with liquid organic scintiller, and allows you to measure the flows of fast neutrons with high energy resolution. At the same time, the detector is quite compact, mobile and convenient to use: its sensitive part can fit in a medium -sized suitcase. High energy resolution (about 15% by energy of 15 MeV) is ensured by compensation for non -linearity of the light output of the organic scintiller. Uniqueness consists precisely in resolution: until recently, the spectrometers of fast neutrons provided at best 40%.

The possibilities of using the device are quite wide. The detector allows you to measure with high accuracy the dose power of the side neutron background received by personnel and patients of proton therapy installations on particle accelerators. With its help, you can measure the flows of fast neutrons in near -Earth orbit, born in solar flashes. The underground experiments of fundamental physics on the search for rare events, in which even an insignificant neutron background is a danger - another potential consumer of such a detector.

In May, joint work is planned to measure the main characteristics of the pilot version of the detector on precision sources of fast neutrons of the National Institute of US Standards. American colleagues, this device, or rather - its potential opportunities were interested in first of all.

Jonrid Abdurashitov