A ceramic-GEM neutron detector with a wide neutron-flux measurement range for the beam monitoring at China spallation neutron source

Abstract The increase of neutron flux in pulsed spallation neutron facilities imposes demands on the neutron detector for beam monitoring, including excellent neutron/gamma discrimination, wide dynamic neutron-flux measurement range, wavelength resolution, and long-term stability. In this paper, we developed a ceramic GEM-based (gas electron multiplier) neutron detector with an active area of 100 mm × 100 mm. It adopted a thinner conversion material and the stopping layer to lower the detection efficiency so as to extend the dynamic measurement range of the detector. The detection efficiency of this detector was investigated by the Monte Carlo (MC) tool FLUKA, showing that the low efficiency around 0.01% for 1 Åneutrons was reached by using a 0.1 μm natB4C converter appended with an aluminum film of 2 μm thickness. Its validation of the wavelength spectra measurement was verified by comparisons with that made with an LND monitor, and it could work at the condition of 7.1 × 109 n/s for 2.5 Åneutrons. In addition, it was demonstrated that this detector was able to measure the beam profile with a position resolution of better than 2.1 ± 0.1 mm. The results of simulations and experiments show that this ceramic-GEM neutron detector can meet the requirements of the direct measurement of high-flux beam, and it will be a new neutron detector for the beam monitoring at the China spallation neutron source (CSNS).