Nuclear Optical Converter for Neutron Detection

6/30/2025 2025 - #02 Global safety, reliability and diagnostics of nuclear power installations

Baskov P.B. Glazyuk Y.V. Marichev G.V.

https://doi.org/10.26583/npe.2025.2.03

A nuclear-optical converter (NOC) with argon and a FeB radiator has been developed for in situ optical neutron detection. A NOC for autonomous neutron monitoring consists of a radiator converting a neutron flux into a flux of high-energy nuclear reaction products, a working medium (gas, solid) for converting the energy of these reactions into a photon flux, and a fiber-optic translator for transmitting a signal to the recording equipment. These radiators were obtained by solid-phase diffusion saturation of steels with boron. They have high radiation resistance and mechanical strength, which makes them suitable for operation at temperatures up to 1000°C. Such radiators can be used both in conventional IRs and in hybrid gas IRs, which combine electrical and optical methods of neutron detection. The performance of the NOP at the IVV-2M reactor power output was demonstrated experimentally at neutron fluxes from 9.5⋅109 to 1.45⋅1013 n cm–2 sec–1 (E<0.625 eV). Optical signals in the form of luminescence spectra were obtained in measurements with the NOP at neutron flux densities from 8.8⋅1010 n cm–2 sec–1, which corresponded to an argon glow intensity of 0.1 μW⋅cm–2 from ionization by α-particles (1.47 MeV) and 7Li ions from FeB phase layers. Spectra of induced radioluminescence of argon in the NOP at 300–600 nm were obtained, consisting of more than 20 lines. The proportional change in the intensity of the radioluminescence of the NOP is shown depending on the neutron flux in a range that includes values that differ by more than two orders of magnitude.

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neutron detectors ionization chamber nuclear optical converter radioluminescence spectrum

Link for citing the article: Baskov P.B., Glazyuk Y.V., Marichev G.V. Nuclear Optical Converter for Neutron Detection. Izvestiya vuzov. Yadernaya Energetika. 2025, no. 2, pp. 33-39; DOI: https://doi.org/10.26583/npe.2025.2.03 (in Russian).