Time-of-flight neutron-correlation spectrometers and their electronics

The review is made of the data published on neutron-correlation time-of-flight spectrometers. The operating principle of a correlation neutron time-of-flight spectrometer implies that the neutron beam serving as an input signal is modulated by an inadvertent law, and time spectrum is found by the way of measuring the mutually correlating function of the input signal and the output signal of the neutron detector. The correlation method is grounded in brief, and the specific features of the neutron-beam choppers, pulse analyzers and time encoders used in the correlation spectrometers are given. Also considered are the main functions of the computers operating in line with the spectrometers. As compared with the ordinary time-of-flight spectrometers, the neutron-correlation ones are more effective, which explains their wide application in nuclear spectrometry