Measurement of delayed neutron yields and time spectra from 1 GeV protons interacting with thick natPb targets

Abstract

In this paper we present for the first time the measured delayed neutron (DN) yields and time spectra from high-energy protons interacting with thick natPb targets. The 1GeV protons from the accelerator impinged on targets of different thicknesses producing a huge number of spallation-fission products, some of which can be DN precursors. After the beam is switched off, the DNs were detected with optimized 3He counter. The production yields of light DN precursors as 17N and "usual" fission products as 87Br and 88Br, which dominate the total DN activity, are obtained both for thin and thick targets. These new data are of great interest for the new generation high-power spallation targets based on liquid-metal technologies. Our findings also should help to constrain the physics models within the simulations codes. © Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag 2007.