Neutron spectroscopy in high gamma background using solid state nuclear track detectors

Measurement of neutrons in the high gamma background is difficult because of the extremely large number of photon events and the pulsed nature of the accelerator beam. The high instantaneous beam intensity hampers the use of detectors with active readout, because of pile–up effects in the electronics. It may also cause radiation damage to the detector. Hence, most of the active detectors and tracking type of detectors fails in measuring the neutron spectrum in high gamma background. The neutron spectrum over the energy 0.7-10 MeV are recorded. The efficiency corrected neutron spectrum generated from the proton recoil events, through two body kinematics is presented in the article, along with Talys-1.96 (γ,n) calculate spectrum. This shows a good agreement between the experimental and theoretical spectra. The present method is successful in the measurement of neutron spectrum with reasonable sensitivity, achieved by removing the 'dark tracks'. This method can be utilized for the measurement of neutrons in the mixed high intensity radiation field