A Study of Nuclear Resonance Fluorescence with Compton-Scattered Gamma Rays PDF Download

Author: Gyanendra Kumar Tandon
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Author: Takehito Hayakawa
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 9814635464
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 379

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Nuclear nonproliferation is a critical global issue. A key technological challenge to ensuring nuclear nonproliferation and security is the detection of long-lived radioisotopes and fissionable nuclides in a non-destructive manner. This technological challenge requires new methods for detecting relevant nuclides and the development of new quantum-beam sources. For example, one new method that has been proposed and studied is nuclear resonance fluorescence with energy-tunable, monochromatic gamma-rays generated by Compton scattering of laser photons with electrons.The development of new methods requires the help of researchers from a wide range of fields, such as nuclear physics, accelerator physics, laser physics, etc. Furthermore, any new method must be compatible with the requirements of administrators and nuclear-material inspectors.

Author: Norman Victor Cohen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Author: Wynand Louw Mouton
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Nuclear physics
Languages : en
Pages : 72

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Author:
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ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 7

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A new class of tunable, monochromatic [gamma]-ray sources capable of operating at high peak and average brightness is currently being developed at LLNL for nuclear photoscience and applications. These novel systems are based on Compton scattering of laser photons by a high brightness relativistic electron beam produced by an rf photoinjector. A prototype, capable of producing> 108 0.7 MeV photons in a single shot, with a fractional bandwidth of 1%, and a repetition rate of 10 Hz, is currently under construction at LLNL; this system will be used to perform nuclear resonance fluorescence experiments. A new symmetrized S-band rf gun, using a Mg photocathode, will produce up to 1 nC of charge in an 8 ps bunch, with a normalized emittance modeled at 0.8 mm.mrad; electrons are subsequently accelerated up to 120 MeV to interact with a 500 mJ, 10 ps, 355 nm laser pulse and generate [gamma]-rays. The laser front end is a fiber-based system, using corrugated-fiber Bragg gratings for stretching, and drives both the frequency-quadrupled photocathode illumination laser and the Nd:YAG interaction laser. Two new technologies are used in the laser: a hyper-Michelson temporal pulse stacker capable of producing 8 ps square UV pulses, and a hyper-dispersion compressor for the interaction laser. Other key technologies, basic scaling laws, and recent experimental results will also be presented, along with an overview of future research and development directions.

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 35

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The authors present calculations describing the production of photons through multi-step processes occurring when a beam of gamma rays interacts with a macroscopic material. These processes involve the creation of energetic electrons through Compton scattering, photo-absorption and pair production, the subsequent scattering of these electrons, and the creation of energetic photons occurring as these electrons are slowed through Bremsstrahlung emission. Unlike single Compton collisions, during which an energetic photon that is scattered through a large angle loses most of its energy, these multi-step processes result in a sizable flux of energetic photons traveling at large angles relative to an incident photon beam. These multi-step processes are also a key background in experiments that measure nuclear resonance fluorescence by shining photons on a thin foil and observing the spectrum of back-scattered photons. Effective cross sections describing the production of backscattered photons are presented in a tabular form that allows simple estimates of backgrounds expected in a variety of experiments. Incident photons with energies between 0.5 MeV and 8 MeV are considered. These calculations of effective cross sections may be useful for those designing NRF experiments or systems that detect specific isotopes in well-shielded environments through observation of resonance fluorescence.

Author: John M. Gonser
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Fluorescence
Languages : en
Pages : 82

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Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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In nuclear resonance fluorescence (NRF) measurements, resonances are excited by an external photon beam leading to the emission of [gamma] rays with specific energies that are characteristic of the emitting isotope. The promise of NRF as a non-destructive analysis technique (NDA) in safeguards applications lies in its potential to directly quantify a specific isotope in an assay target without the need for unfolding the combined responses of several fissile isotopes as often required by other NDA methods. The use of NRF for detection of sensitive nuclear materials and other contraband has been researched in the past. In the safeguards applications considered here one has to go beyond mere detection and precisely quantify the isotopic content, a challenge that is discussed throughout this report. Basic NRF measurement methods, instrumentation, and the analytical calculation of NRF signal strengths are described in Section 2. Well understood modeling and simulation tools are needed for assessing the potential of NRF for safeguards and for designing measurement systems. All our simulations were performed with the radiation transport code MCNPX, a code that is widely used in the safeguards community. Our initial studies showed that MCNPX grossly underestimated the elastically scattered background at backwards angles due to an incorrect treatment of Rayleigh scattering. While new, corrected calculations based on ENDF form factors showed much better agreement with experimental data for the elastic scattering of photons on an uranium target, the elastic backscatter is still not rigorously treated. Photonuclear scattering processes (nuclear Thomson, Delbruck and Giant Dipole Resonance scattering), which are expected to play an important role at higher energies, are not yet included. These missing elastic scattering contributions were studied and their importance evaluated evaluated against data found in the literature as discussed in Section 3. A transmission experiment was performed in September 2009 to test and demonstrate the applicability of the method to the quantitative measurement of an isotope of interest embedded in a thick target. The experiment, data analysis, and results are described in Section 4. The broad goal of our NRF studies is to assess the potential of the technique in safeguards applications. Three examples are analyzed in Section 5: the isotopic assay of spent nuclear fuel (SNF), the measurement of 235U enrichment in UF6 cylinders, and the determination of 239Pu in mixed oxide (MOX) fuel. The study of NRF for the assay of SNF assemblies was supported by the Next Generation Safeguards Initiative (NGSI) of the U.S. Department of Energy as part of a large multi-lab/university effort to quantify the plutonium (Pu) mass in spent nuclear fuel assemblies and to detect the diversion of pins with non-destructive assay (NDA) methods. NRF is one of 14 NDA techniques being researched. The methodology for performing and analyzing quantitative NRF measurements was developed for determining Pu mass in SNF and is extensively discussed in this report. The same methodology was applied to the assessment of NRF for the measurement of 235U enrichment and the determination of 239Pu in MOX fuel. The analysis centers on determining suitable NRF measurement methods, measurement capabilities that could be realized with currently available instrumentation, and photon source and detector requirements for achieving useful NDA capabilities.

Author: Brian Joseph Quiter
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 510

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This dissertation examines the measurement of nuclear resonance fluorescence gamma-rays as a technique to non-destructively determine isotopic compositions of target materials that are of interest for nuclear security applications. The physical processes that can result in non-resonant background to nuclear resonance fluorescence measurements are described and investigated using a radiation transport computer code that relies on the Monte Carlo technique, MCNPX. The phenomenon of nuclear resonance fluorescence is discussed with consideration of the angular distributions of resonance emissions, the effects of nuclear recoil, and the influence of thermal motion. Models describing two ways of measuring nuclear resonance fluorescence rates in materials are considered. First the measurement of back-scattered photons is considered. In this type of measurement, the portion of the interrogating photon beam that is scattered into large relative angles is measured. When the radioactivity of the target can be overcome by shielding or by use of intense photon sources, direct measurement of gamma-rays, emitted during nuclear resonance fluorescence can provide quantitative signatures that appear to be useful for applications such as forensic age-dating of large radiological sources. However, if the target radioactivity is too intense, as in the case for most spent nuclear fuel, a second measurement type, where indirect measurement of transmitted resonant-energy photons can also provide quantitative information. This method allows radiation detectors to be better-shielded from target radioactivity, but suffers from a slower accrual rate of statistical confidence. The models described herein indicate that very intense photon sources and large high-resolution detector arrays would be needed to measure 239Pu content in spent fuel to precisions desired by nuclear safeguards organizations. However, the rates at which statistics accrue are strongly proportional to the strengths of the resonances, and measurement of a plutonium isotope with stronger resonances may provide more practical measurement rates. The model for predicting relative detection rates of nuclear resonance fluorescence gamma-rays in the transmission measurement was experimentally tested using the 238U in a mixture of depleted uranium and lead as a surrogate for 239Pu in spent fuel. The experiment indicated that the model was approximately correct, but that the process of notch refilling, which was excluded from the initial model, appears to be visible. Data files of the computer code, MCNPX, were modified to allow for nuclear resonance fluorescence to be simulated and a bug in the code was repaired to allow the code to more accurately simulate non-resonant elastic photon scattering. Simulations using this modified version of MCNPX have indicated that the magnitude of the notch refill process is comparable to that of the difference between the analytical model and the experimental data.

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 38

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This study focuses on the applicability of current accelerator and laser technologies to the construction of compact, narrow bandwidth, gamma-ray sources for DHS missions in illicit materials detection. It also identifies research and development areas in which advancement will directly benefit these light sources. In particular, we review the physics of Compton scattering based light sources and emphasize the source properties most important to Nuclear Resonance Fluorescence (NRF) applications of interest. The influences of laser and electron beam properties on the light source are examined in order to evaluate the utility of different technologies for this application. Applicable bulk and fiber-based laser systems and laser recirculation technologies are discussed and Radio Frequency (RF) Linear Accelerator (linac) technologies are examined to determine the optimal frequency and pulse formats achievable.