Hughes, P.
, Thompson, A.
, Coplan, M.
, Vest, R.
and Clark, C.
(2010),
Far-ultraviolet signatures of the 3He(n,tp) reaction in noble gas mixtures, Applied Physics Letters
(Accessed December 18, 2025)
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Far-ultraviolet signatures of the 3He(n,tp) reaction in noble gas mixtures
Published
Author(s)
, , Michael Coplan, ,
Abstract
Previous work showed that the 3He(n,tp) reaction in a cell of 3He at atmospheric pressure generated tens of far-ultraviolet photons per reacted neutron. Here we report amplification of that signal by factors of 1000 and more when noble gases are added to the cell. Calibrated filter-detector measurements show that this large signal is due to noble-gas excimer emissions, and that the exothermicity of the nuclear reaction is converted to far-ultraviolet radiation with efficiencies of up to 30%. The results have been placed on an absolute scale through calibrations at the NIST SURF III synchrotron. They suggest possibilities for high-efficiency neutron detectors as an alternative to existing proportional counters.Citation
Applied Physics Letters
Pub Type
Journals
Keywords
excimer, far ultraviolet, neutron, noble gas, synchrotron
Citation
Issues
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Created December 8, 2010, Updated February 19, 2017