| 1. |
- Andersson Sundén, Erik, et al.
(author)
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The thin-foil magnetic proton recoil neutron spectrometer MPRu at JET
- 2009
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In: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A. - : Elsevier BV. - 0168-9002 .- 1872-9576. ; 610:3, s. 682-699
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Neutrons are produced in fusion energy experiments with both deuterium (D) and deuterium–tritium (DT) plasmas. Neutron spectroscopy is a valuable tool in the study of the underlying fuel ion populations. The magnetic proton recoil neutron spectrometer, originally installed at JET in 1996 for 14-MeV neutron measurements, has been upgraded, with the main aim of improving its signal-to-background ratio (S/B), making measurements of the 2.5-MeV neutron emission in D plasmas possible. The upgrade includes a new focal-plane detector, based on the phoswich technique and consequently less sensitive to background, and a new custom-designed digital data acquisition system based on transient recorder cards. Results from JET show that the upgraded MPRu can measure 2.5-MeV neutrons with S/B=5, an improvement by a factor of 50 compared with the original MPR. S/B of 2.8×104 in future DT experiments is estimated. The performance of the MPRu is exemplified with results from recent D plasma operations at JET, concerning both measurements with Ohmic, ion cyclotron resonance (ICRH) and neutral beam injection (NBI) plasma heating, as well as measurements of tritium burn-up neutrons. The upgraded instrument allows for 2.5-MeV neutron emission and deuterium ion temperature measurements in plasmas with low levels of tritium, a feature necessary for the ITER experiment.
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| 2. |
- Conroy, Sean W., et al.
(author)
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Neutron spectrometer for ITER using silicon detectors
- 2008
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In: Review of Scientific Instruments. - : AIP Publishing. - 0034-6748 .- 1089-7623. ; 79:10, s. 10E508-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- High resolution neutron spectrometers provide information about plasma parameters at existing fusion experiments. Such a system may also be employed at ITER. Proton recoil telescopes have classically been used to detect neutrons with good energy resolution but poor efficiency. Using annular silicon detectors, it is possible to greatly increase the solid angle coverage and hence improve efficiency. Based on a simulation (MCNPX) study, the scaling of energy resolution, efficiency, and time to determine an ion temperature to 10% accuracy on foil thickness and detector location is shown. The latter quantity is used to determine the optimum foil thickness and detector geometry for specific plasma temperatures. For a 20 keV deuterium-tritium (DT) plasma, 5.3% resolution with efficiency of 2.9x10(-4) n cm(2) is attainable using the available detectors. This gives a temperature measurement with 10% accuracy in 1.1 ms for a neutron flux of 2x10(9) n cm(-2). Multiple detectors can be used to further increase the efficiency if needed. A system of this kind could be tested in a future DT campaign at, for example, JET.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Gatu Johnson, Maria, et al.
(author)
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The 2.5-MeV neutron time-of-flight spectrometer TOFOR for experiments at JET
- 2008
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In: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A. - : Elsevier BV. - 0168-9002 .- 1872-9576. ; 591:2, s. 417-430
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A time-of-flight (TOF) spectrometer for measurement of the 2.5-MeV neutron emission from fusion plasmas has been developed and put into use at the JET tokamak. It has been optimized for operation at high rates (TOFOR) for the purpose of performing advanced neutron emission spectroscopy (NES) diagnosis of deuterium plasmas with a focus on the fuel ion motional states for different auxiliary heating scenarios. This requires operation over a large dynamic range, including high rates of > 100 kHz with a maximum value of 0.5 MHz for the TOFOR design. This paper describes the design principles and their technical realization. The performance is illustrated with recent neutron TOF spectra recorded for plasmas subjected to different heating scenarios. A true event count rate of 39 kHz has been achieved at about a tenth of the expected neutron yield limit of JET, giving a projected maximum of 400 kHz at peak JET plasma yield. This means that the count rate capability for NES diagnosis of D plasmas has been improved more than an order of magnitude. Another important performance factor is the spectrometer bandwidth, where data have been acquired and analyzed successfully with a response function for neutrons over the energy range 1 to > 5 MeV. The implications of instrumental advancement represented by TOFOR are discussed.
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| 5. |
- Gatu Johnson, Maria, 1978-, et al.
(author)
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The TOFOR neutron spectrometer and its first use at JET
- 2006
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In: Review of Scientific Instruments. - American Institute of Physics : AIP Publishing. - 0034-6748 .- 1089-7623. ; 77:10E702, s. 1-3
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A time-of-flight neutron spectrometer (TOFOR) has been developed to measure the 2.45 MeV d+d3He+n neutron emission from D plasmas. The TOFOR design features the capability to operate at high rates in the 100 kHz range, data collection with fast time digitizing and storing, and monitoring of the signals from the scintillation detectors used. This article describes the principles of the instrument and its installation at JET and presents preliminary data to illustrate the TOFOR performance as a neutron emission spectroscopy diagnostic.
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Giacomelli, Luca, et al.
(author)
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Advanced Neutron Diagnostics for JET and ITER Fusion Experiments
- 2005
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In: Nuclear Fusion. - : IOP Publishing. - 0029-5515 .- 1741-4326. ; 45, s. 1191-1201
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The diagnostics functions of neutron measurements as well as the roles played by neutron yield monitors, cameras and spectrometers are reviewed. The importance of recent developments in neutron emission spectroscopy (NES) diagnostics is emphasized. Results are presented from the NES diagnosis of the Joint European Torus (JET) plasmas performed with the magnetic proton recoil (MPR) spectrometer during the first deuterium tritium experiment of 1997 and the recent trace tritium experiment of 2003. The NES diagnostic capabilities at JET are presently being enhanced by an upgrade of the MPR (MPRu) and a new 2.5 MeV time-of-flight (TOF) neutron spectrometer (TOFOR). The principles of MPRu and TOFOR are described and illustrated with the diagnostic role they will play in the high performance fusion experiments in the forward programme of JET largely aimed at supporting the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). The importance of the JET NES effort for ITER is discussed.
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| 8. |
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| 9. |
- Ronchi, Emanuele, et al.
(author)
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A bipolar LED drive technique for high performance, stability and power in the nanosecond time scale
- 2009
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In: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A. - : Elsevier BV. - 0168-9002 .- 1872-9576. ; 599:2-3, s. 243-247
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Pulsed light sources are often used to monitor the stability of light detectors such as photomultiplier tubes. Light emitting diodes (LEDs) are suitable for this due to their high specific light yield. While pulsed operation in the region of [mu]s is generally accessible with most LEDs and drivers, the ns time scale often represents a technical challenge. This paper describes a technique of bipolar LED drive that can produce light pulses of a few ns at high stability, reliability and power. The driver also offers control over the properties of the light pulse produced such as shape, intensity and repetition rate. This approach has been studied in 2003 and implemented in 2004 for two fusion neutron spectrometers at the Joint European Torus (JET) namely the Magnetic Proton Recoil upgrade (MPRu) and the Time Of Flight Optimized for Rate (TOFOR). A driver has been manufactured and connected to the scintillation detectors of each spectrometer through an optical fiber distribution network. Both MPRu and TOFOR have been successfully relying on this system for calibration and performance monitoring for several years, confirming the long-term stability and reliability of this technique.
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| 10. |
- Ronchi, Emanuele, et al.
(author)
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An artificial neural network based neutron-gamma discrimination and pile-up rejection framework for the BC-501 liquid scintillation detector
- 2009
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In: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A. - : Elsevier BV. - 0168-9002 .- 1872-9576. ; 610:2, s. 534-539
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- BC-501 is a liquid scintillation detector sensitive to both neutrons and gamma rays. As these produce slightly different signals in the detector, they can be discriminated based on their pulse shape (Pulse Shape Discrimination, PSD). This paper reports on results obtained with several PSD techniques and compares them with a method based on artificial neural networks (NN) developed for this application. Results indicated a large performance advantage of NN especially in the region of small deposited energy which typically contains the majority of the events. NN were also applied for discrimination of pile-up events with good results. This framework can be implemented on some of the most recent programmable data acquisition cards and it is suitable for real-time application.
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