Characterization of the PTW 34031 ionization chamber (PMI) at RCNP with high energy neutrons ranging from 100 – 392 MeV

¹ CERN, HSE-RP, Geneva 23, CH-1211 Geneva, Switzerland
² JAEA, Tokai-mura, Japan
³ KEK, Tsukuba, Japan
⁴ Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
⁵ AIST, Tsukuba, Japan
⁶ RIKEN, Tsukuba, Japan
⁷ Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
⁸ Spring-8 synchrotron radiation facility, Hyogo, Japan
⁹ Institute of Technology, Shimizu Corporation, Tokyo, Japan
¹⁰ RCNP, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan

^a Corresponding author: christian.theis@cern.ch

Published online: 25 September 2017

Abstract

Radiation monitoring at high energy proton accelerators poses a considerable challenge due to the complexity of the encountered stray radiation fields. These environments comprise a wide variety of different particle types and span from fractions of electron-volts up to several terra electron-volts. As a consequence the use of Monte Carlo simulation programs like FLUKA is indispensable to obtain appropriate field-specific calibration factors. At many locations of the LHC a large contribution to the particle fluence is expected to originate from high-energy neutrons and thus, benchmark experiments with mono-energetic neutron beams are of high importance to verify the aforementioned detector response calculations. This paper summarizes the results of a series of benchmark experiments with quasi mono-energetic neutrons of 100, 140, 200, 250 and 392 MeV that have been carried out at RCNP - Osaka University, during several campaigns between 2006 and 2014.