Directional Detection of Fast Neutrons Using a Time Projection Chamber

Spontaneous fission in Special Nuclear Material (SNM) such as plutonium and highly enriched uranium (HEU) results in the emission of neutrons with energies in the MeV range (hereafter “fast neutrons”). These fast neutrons are largely unaffected by the few centimeters of intervening high-Z material that would suffice for attenuating most emitted gamma rays, while tens of centimeters of hydrogenous materials are required to achieve substantial attenuation of neutron fluxes from SNM. Neutron detectors are therefore an important complement to gamma-ray detectors in SNM search and monitoring applications. The rate at which SNM emits fast neutrons varies from about 2 per kilogram per second for typical HEU to some 60,000 per kilogram per second for metallic weapons grade plutonium. These rates can be compared with typical sea-level (cosmogenic) neutron backgrounds of roughly 5 per second per square meter per steradian in the relevant energy range [1]. The fact that the backgrounds are largely isotropic makes directional neutron detection especially attractive for SNM detection. The ability to detect, localize, and ultimately identify fast neutron sources at standoff will ultimately be limited by this background rate. Fast neutrons are particularly well suited to standoff detection and localization of SNM or other fast neutrons sources. Fast neutrons have attenuation lengths of about 60 meters in air, and retain considerable information about their source direction even after one or two scatters. Knowledge of the incoming direction of a fast neutron, from SNM or otherwise, has the potential to significantly improve signal to background in a variety of applications, since the background arriving from any one direction is a small fraction of the total background. Imaging or directional information therefore allows for source detection at a larger standoff distance or with shorter dwell times compared to non- directional detectors, provided high detection efficiency can be maintained. Directional detection of neutrons has been previously considered for applications such as controlled fusion neutron imaging [2], nuclear fuel safety research [3], imaging of solar neutrons and SNM [4], and in nuclear science [5]. The use of scintillating crystals and fibers has been proposed for directional neutron detection [6]. Recently, a neutron scatter camera has been designed, constructed, and tested for imaging of fast neutrons, characteristic for SNM material fission [7]. The neutron scatter camera relies on the measurement of the proton recoil angle and proton energy by time of flight between two segmented solid-state detectors. A single-measurement result from the neutron scatter camera is a ring containing the possible incident neutron direction. Here we describe the development and commissioning of a directional neutron detection system based on a time projection chamber (TPC) detector. The TPC, which has been widely used in particle and nuclear physics research for several decades, provides a convenient means of measuring the full 3D trajectory, specific ionization (i.e particle type) and energy of charged particles. For this application, we observe recoil protons produced by fast neutron scatters on protons in hydrogen or methane gas. Gas pressures of a few ATM provide reasonable neutron interaction/scattering rates.