The high-luminosity lead slowing-down neutron spectrometer driven by proton linac of the Moscow meson factory

The main advantages of the lead slowing-down neutron spectrometers (LNS) are shown. The PITON installation, which is the first LNS of the new third generation, is described. PITON is a lead cube weighing approximately 15 T set up within the experimental zone at the end of the Moscow Meson Factory linac tunnel. The results of calculations show that the proton beam parameters achieved (Ep = 425 MeV, pulse current Ip = 30 m A, pulse width of 0.15-1.5 μs, repetition rate of 50 Hz) give an opportunity to increase the neutron source intensity up to 7 x 1013 n/s, which results in a neutron flux density of ≅ 106-107 n/cm2 x s x eV. The conclusion is made that the high luminosity of PITON enables one to perform experiments with a small number of nuclei in a sample and to investigate rare neutron-nucleus interactions. 9 refs., 1 tab., 3 figs