On the use of averaging stopping power of recoiled nuclei for determining maximum neutron energy of 241Am–Be by superheated drop detectors

The average stopping power of the recoiled nuclei generated by neutron elastic interactions with the Freon-12 drops in a superheated drop detector has been used to determine the maximum neutron energy of the ²⁴¹Am–Be source. In an elastic interaction of neutrons with the Freon-12 liquid, the nuclei of ¹²C, ¹⁹F and ³⁵Cl with different values of stopping power are scattered. The stopping power of these scattered nuclei corresponding to the energy transferred to them through the head-on collision was extracted from the SRIM code. The stopping power values were weighted by considering the neutron–nucleus elastic scattering cross section and the number of each nucleus in the Freon-12 molecule and the average stopping power was calculated from known neutron energy.The maximum energy of the ²⁴¹Am–Be neutron source was estimated as 10.9 ± 3.0 MeV. The consistency between the determined energy and the other reported values confirms the validity of using the average stopping power in the superheated drop detectors. The average stopping power was also used to determine the threshold neutron energy as a function of external applied pressure at different temperatures. Knowing the threshold neutron energy as function of applied pressure, can be used in pressure scanning method for neutron spectrometry by superheated drop detectors.     

Photon contributions from the 252Cf and 241Am–Be neutron sources at the PSI Calibration Laboratory

At the accredited PSI Calibration Laboratory neutron reference fields traceable to the national standards of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) in Germany are available for the calibration of ambient and personal dose equivalent (rate) meters and passive dosimeters. The photon contribution to the ambient dose equivalent in the neutron fields of the ²⁵²Cf and ²⁴¹Am–Be sources was measured using various photon dose rate meters and active and passive dosimeters. Measuring photons from a neutron source usually involves considerable uncertainties due to the presence of neutron induced photons in the room, due to a non-zero neutron sensitivity of the photon detector, and last but not least due to the energy response of the photon detectors. Therefore eight independent detectors and methods were used to obtain a reliable estimate for the photon contribution of the two sources as an average of the individual methods. For the ²⁴¹Am–Be source a photon contribution of approximately 4.9% was determined and for the ²⁵²Cf source a contribution of 3.6%.     

Trajectory of neutron–neutron–C excited three-body state

The trajectory of the first excited Efimov state is investigated by using a renormalized zero-range three-body model for a system with two bound and one virtual two-body subsystems. The approach is applied to n–n–¹⁸C, where the n–n$n\text{–}n$ virtual energy and the three-body ground state are kept fixed. It is shown that such three-body excited state goes from a bound to a virtual state when the n–¹⁸C binding energy is increased. Results obtained for the n–¹⁹C elastic cross-section at low energies also show dominance of an S-matrix pole corresponding to a bound or virtual Efimov state. It is also presented a brief discussion of these findings in the context of ultracold atom physics with tunable scattering lengths.     

Fluorescence spectra of uranium induced by a linearly polarized laser light in a magnetic field

In this paper we reported the fluorescence spectra of U~(238) induced by a linearly polarized laser field in a magnetic field and offered a theoretical analysis. The consistence between the theoretical prediction and experimental results was satisfactory.     

Number of 59·5 keV-photons per decay of241Am

Number of 59·5 keV-photons per decay of²⁴¹Am equal to 0·355±0·003 was determined from activity and gamma-emission rate measurements.     

A simulation of neutron interaction from Am–Be source with the CR-39 detector

Presented in this paper is a simulation of the interaction of neutrons emitted from a cylindrical Am–Be source with a CR-39 detector. A Fortran90 program, called Neutron.f90, has been written to determine the specifications of secondary particles (alpha particle or proton) and the kinematics of the interactions. A Monte Carlo method was used to simulate which interactions occurred with the constituents of the CR-39 detector, H, C and O atoms. Due to the detector composition, elastic and nonelastic scattering of neutrons is possible. In this paper, nonelastic scattering includes: inelastic scattering; the emission of an alpha particle (n,α) reaction and the emission of a proton (n,p) reaction. Cross sections of other reactions are very small and negligible in comparison with the above mentioned. The energy deposited per unit mass per one neutron was calculated. In addition the contribution to the energy deposited by the alpha particles and protons were determined separately. The program Neutron.f90 computes the coordinates of points in which interactions occur i.e. where secondary particles appear. The energy and angular distributions of protons are also represented in this paper. Another Fortran90 program, called Track_Visibility.f90, was written to calculate the number of visible proton tracks and to calculate the energy deposited per one neutron per one visible track.     

Design of the thermal neutron detection system for CJPL-Ⅱ

A low background thermal neutron flux detection system has been designed to measure the ambient thermal neutron flux of the second phase of the China Jinping Underground Laboratory(CJPL-Ⅱ),right after completion of the rock bolting work.A ~3He proportional counter tube combined with an identical ~4He proportional counter tube was employed as the thermal neutron detector,which has been optimised in energy resolution,wall effect and radioactivity of construction materials for low background performance.The readout electronics were specially designed for long-term stable operation and easy maintenance in an underground laboratory under construction.The system was installed in Lab Hall No.3 of CJPL-Ⅱ and accumulated data for about 80 days.The ambient thermal neutron flux was determined under the assumption that the neutron field is fully thermalized,uniform and isotropic at the measurement position.     

Recurrence spectra of Li atom in strong external fields

Based upon our previous work [Commun. Theor. Phys.. 40,702 (2003)], we developed the closed orbit theory from two degrees of freedom to three non-separable degrees of freedom and calculated the recurrence spectra of Li Rydberg atom in strong perpendicular electric and magnetic fields. The Fourier transformed spectra of Li atom has allowed direct comparison between the resonance peaks and the scaled action values of closed orbits, whereas the nonhydrogenic resonance can be explained in terms of the new orbits created by the core scattering. The semiclassical result is in good agreement with the quantum one, which suggests that our calculation is correct.     

Semiclassical calculation of Rydberg He2^＋ molecular of recurrence spectra ion in a magnetic field

Making use of the molecular closed-orbit theory and a new model potential for the Rydberg molecule, we have calculated the recurrence spectra of He^2＋ molecular ion in a magnetic field for different quantum defects. The Fourier transform spectra of He^2＋ molecular ion may be used to perform a direct comparison between peaks in the spectra and the scaled action values of closed orbits of the excited electron in external fields. We find that the spectral modulations can be analysed in terms of the scattering of the excited electron on the molecular core. Unlike the case of the Rydberg atom where the elastic scattering is predominant, modulations produced by inelastic scattering are also vital to the photoabsorption spectrum of the Rydberg molecule. Our results are in good agreement with the quantum results, which suggests that our method is correct.     

Shift of relaxation-stimulated resonances in Mössbauer absortion spectra in a static magnetic field

New features are obtained for previously predicted relaxation-stimulated resonances in Mössbauer spectra of nanomagnets exposed to an external rf field: the resonances should undergo low-frequency shift upon applying a weak static magnetic field. Analytic expressions for the resonance frequencies as functions of the static field are obtained within a simplified relaxation model. This effect extends the possibilities for experimental observation of the predicted effects, because tuning to the resonance may be accomplished not only by changing frequency of the rf field but also by varying the amplitude of the alternating field and the strength of the static field.     

Systematics of the pygmy resonance in keV neutron capture γ-ray spectra of nuclei with N ≈ 82–126

We have measured capture gamma-ray spectra of Pr, Tb, Ho, Lu, Ta and Au at neutron energies of 10 to 800 keV with an anti-Compton NaI(Tl) detector, employing a time-of-flight technique. An anomalous bump, so-called the pygmy resonance, was observed in all these spectra. Remarkable features of the pygmy resonance were found to be that the resonance energy and the electric-dipole strength exhausted in the resonance increase with neutron number but these quantities decrease precipitously around the neutron magic number of N = 82. Comparison with theoretical calculations suggests that the pygmy resonance is mainly made up of neutron particle-hole states decoupled from the giant electric-dipole resonance and is excited in a collective mode.     

Emission and absorption spectra of a general formalism Ξ-type three-level atom driven by a single-mode field with nonlinearities

We study the interaction of a three-level atom with a single-mode field in a cavity. We take explicitly into account the existence of the forms of nonlinearities of both the field and the intensity-dependent atom-field coupling. The wavefunction for the atomic system of the Ξ configuration is obtained when the atom is initially prepared in the excited state. The electromagnetic field may assume a squeezed coherent or binomial state. The analytical forms of the fluorescence and absorption spectra are calculated using the dressed states of the system. We investigate the influences of the mean number of photons, detunings, and the nonlinearities forms on the spectrum of the resulting field states. It is shown that the features of the fluorescence and absorption spectra are influenced significantly by the kinds of nonlinearities.     

Experimental search for neutron–mirror neutron oscillations using storage of ultracold neutrons

The idea of a hidden sector of mirror partners of elementary particles has attracted considerable interest as a possible candidate for dark matter. Recently it was pointed out by Berezhiani and Bento that the present experimental data cannot exclude the possibility of a rapid oscillation of the neutron n to a mirror neutron n′ with oscillation time much smaller than the neutron lifetime. A dedicated search for vacuum transitions n→n^′$\mathrm{n}\to {\mathrm{n}}^{\prime }$ has to be performed at weak magnetic field, where both states are degenerate. We report the result of our experiment, which compares rates of ultracold neutrons after storage at a weak magnetic field well below 20 nT and at a magnetic field strong enough to suppress the seeked transitions. We obtain a new limit for the oscillation time of n–n′ transitions, τosc(90% C.L.)>414 s${\tau }_{\mathrm{osc}}(90\mathrm{\%}\text{C.L.})>414\text{s}$. The corresponding limit for the mixing energy of the normal and mirror neutron states is δm(90% C.L.)<1.5×¹⁰⁻¹⁸ eV$\delta m(90\mathrm{\%}\text{C.L.})<1.5\times {10}^{\mathrm{-18}}\text{eV}$.     

Monte Carlo simulation of prompt γ-ray spectra from depleted uranium under D-T neutron irradiation and electron recoil spectra in a liquid scintillator detector

To overcome the problem of inefficient computing time and unreliable results in MCNP5 calculation, a two-step method is adopted to calculate the energy deposition of prompt γ-rays in detectors for depleted uranium spherical shells under D-T neutron irradiation. In the first step, the γ-ray spectrum for energy below 7 MeV is calculated by MCNP5 code; secondly, the electron recoil spectrum in a BC501 A liquid scintillator detector is simulated based on EGSnrc Monte Carlo Code with the γ-ray spectrum from the first step as input. The comparison of calculated results with experimental ones shows that the simulations agree well with experiment in the energy region 0.4–3 MeV for the prompt γ-ray spectrum and below 4 MeVee for the electron recoil spectrum. The reliability of the two-step method in this work is validated.     

Study of the stability of charged particle dynamics in a Penning–Malmberg–Surko trap with a rotating field

The solutions of equations characterizing the dynamics of charged particles in electromagnetic Penning–Malmberg traps with a rotating transverse electric field are presented and analyzed. The equations of motion are transformed in a way that makes it possible to distinguish between the motions of magnetron and cyclotron particles, reduce the system of equations to a stationary one, and conclude that asymptotically Lyapunov stable solutions of these equations are lacking in a certain parameter interval. This allows one to optimize the confinement of charged particles in such traps.     

Influence of strong magnetic field on β decay in the crusts of neutron stars

βdecay in the strong magnetic field of the crusts of neutron stars is analysed by an improved method. The reactions ⁶⁷ Ni(β^-)⁶⁷ Cu and ⁶² Mn\beta ^-62 Fe are investigated as examples. The results show that a weak magnetic field has little effect on βdecay but a strong magnetic field (B>10¹²G) increases β decay rates obviously. The conclusion derived may be crucial to the research of late evolution of neutron stars and nucleosynthesis in r-process.