title: Using a Tandem Pelletron accelerator to produce a thermal neutron beam for detector testing purposes.
abstract: Active thermal neutron detectors are used in a wide range of measuring devices in medicine, industry and research. For many applications, the long-term stability of these devices is crucial, so that very well controlled neutron fields are needed to perform calibrations and repeatability tests. A way to achieve such reference neutron fields, relying on a 3 MV Tandem Pelletron accelerator available at the CNA (Seville, Spain), is reported here. This paper shows thermal neutron field production and reproducibility characteristics over few days.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Fisiología Médica y Biofísica, Universidad de Sevilla, Spain; Servicio de Radiofísica, Hospital Universitario Virgen Macarena, Sevilla, Spain. Electronic address: leticia@us.es.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Irazola
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física Atómica, Molecular y Nuclear, Universidad de Granada, Spain; Centro Nacional de Aceleradores (US-JA-CSIC), Sevilla, Spain.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Praena
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física Atómica, Molecular y Nuclear, Universidad de Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Fernández
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Física Atómica, Molecular y Nuclear, Universidad de Granada, Spain.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Macías
authors.affiliation: Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Frascati, Italy.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bedogni
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Radiofísica, Hospital Universitario Virgen Macarena, Sevilla, Spain; Departamento de Fisiología Médica y Biofísica, Universidad de Sevilla, Spain.
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Terrón
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Física, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sánchez-Nieto
authors.affiliation: Centro Nacional de Aceleradores (US-JA-CSIC), Sevilla, Spain.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Arias de Saavedra
authors.affiliation: Centro Nacional de Aceleradores (US-JA-CSIC), Sevilla, Spain.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Porras
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Fisiología Médica y Biofísica, Universidad de Sevilla, Spain; Servicio de Radiofísica, Hospital Universitario Virgen Macarena, Sevilla, Spain.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sánchez-Doblado
mesh_terms: D002138:Calibration; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D009502:Neutrons; D010315:Particle Accelerators; D011874:Radiometry / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013030:Spain
keywords: Neutron detectors; Pelletron; TNRD; Thermal neutrons