Neutron beam characterization

At the first Research Coordination Meeting in November 1999 it was agreed that each experimental participant would characterize his own neutron beam and detector system, and then use it to analyze an unknown sample. A set of five materials was prepared and distributed to aid this effort: titanium foil, gold foil, borophosphosilicate glass on silicon, boron 10-aluminum alloy sheet, and a mixture of a complex aluminosilicate and graphite. Neutron flux can be measured by the conventional foil activation method using the gold foil. The titanium foil is to be used to measure the sensitivity of the system, the product of the neutron flux and the detector efficiency. The effective velocity or wavelength of the beam can be measured with the boron samples using a prescribed procedure. Excel spreadsheets for the flux and velocity calculations were placed on the IAEA server ndsalpha.iaea.org