How to produce fast Neutrons

Thomas Mueller

Hi,

I'd like to find out, how i can produce fast Neutrons >1 MeV at least, but
>20 MeV would be great.

I found out, that using Deuterium+Tritium would be one possibility, but
Tritium is not easy to get and requires great care. I can Accelerate Ions
to up to 25 MeV with a 'Tandem'-Accelerator.

Any Ideas?

Thx,
Thomas

bhauth@gmail.com

Electrostatic D-T fusion is probably the easiest way. If you can't get
ahold of tritium, you are likely to have trouble getting other things.
If D-D fusion is high-energy enough, you can get plenty of neutrons
from that too. Fusion product energies are on wikipedia. You are kind
of vague, though. What is the application? What is your situation?

Uncle Al

Thomas Mueller wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> I'd like to find out, how i can produce fast Neutrons >1 MeV at least, but
> >20 MeV would be great.
>
> I found out, that using Deuterium+Tritium would be one possibility, but
> Tritium is not easy to get and requires great care. I can Accelerate Ions
> to up to 25 MeV with a 'Tandem'-Accelerator.
>
> Any Ideas?

http://www.aip.org/tip/INPHFA/vol-9/iss-6/p22.html
http://www.sciner.com/Neutron/neutron_radiography.htm
http://www.lbl.gov/Tech-Transfer/techs/lbnl1764.html
"Neutron generators like these can significantly enhance homeland
security."

<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=9022213&dopt=Abstract>

--
Uncle Al
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/
(Toxic URL! Unsafe for children and most mammals)
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/qz.pdf

Thomas =?ISO-8859-15?Q?M=FCller?=

bhauth@gmail.com wrote:

> Electrostatic D-T fusion is probably the easiest way. If you can't get
> ahold of tritium, you are likely to have trouble getting other things.
> If D-D fusion is high-energy enough, you can get plenty of neutrons
> from that too. Fusion product energies are on wikipedia. You are kind
> of vague, though. What is the application? What is your situation?

Ok thanks to you and Uncle Al... It seems that i already found all the
possibilites to produce neutrons, and there arent any other reactions i
can use. Im a student starting to write my diploma thesis, and i want to
examine how a myon-detector for the Atlas-Expriment behaves in fast
neutron background.

I'll try to simulate D-T Reaction with Geant4, if its the best way to
produce fast Neutrons i guess i can organize some Tritium...

Thomas

Robert Komar

Thomas Mueller <Thomas.Andreas.Mueller@elfstone.de> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'd like to find out, how i can produce fast Neutrons >1 MeV at least, but
>>20 MeV would be great.
>
> I found out, that using Deuterium+Tritium would be one possibility, but
> Tritium is not easy to get and requires great care. I can Accelerate Ions
> to up to 25 MeV with a 'Tandem'-Accelerator.
>
> Any Ideas?
>
> Thx,
> Thomas
>

Hi Thomas,
7Li(p,n) is also a possibility. I'm pretty sure that the cross-section is
lower than for T(d,n) or T(p,n), but I suspect that it will still provide
more than enough neutrons for your needs. It's easier to get and handle
than tritium, and the 7Be left in the target can be counted with a gamma
ray detector afterwards to know how many neutrons were produced.

Note that all these reactions produce gamma rays >18MeV, so there is
likely to be a lot of background in your tests.

Cheers,
Rob Komar