Study of problems arising from the use of thermal neutron detectors in a pulsed regime. Application to the development of a digital transferometer adapted to receive signals from these detectors

The instantaneous value of the counting rate of the pulses given by a fission detector settled in a reactor follows the neutron flux, but it is shown that the counter adds a white noise to the measured signal. This report deals with some possibilities of on line numerical handling afforded by this kind of signals. One considers first the influence of a by N numerical divider and one shows that, acting like a quantifier, it adds to the signal a white noise with the power N2/12. One, studies afterwards the principle of a digital filter aimed to Fourier analyse the signal. The realization of this device is described. It can be used in transfer function measurements at frequencies below 125 kHz. Some examples of experiments performed with this apparatus are presented. One discusses finally the design, according to the same principle, of a power spectral density analyser in the frequency range 0,01 - 10 000 Hz for random signal of the same kind. (author)