NGn Prototype Detector Tests at TUNL

A group of 18 MoNA researchers, 10 of them undergraduate students, visited the Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory (TUNL) located in Durham, NC, in December of 2024 to test prototype detector configurations of the Next Generation Neutron Detector (NGn). NGn is being developed under an NSF-sponsored major research instrumentation project (award numbers 2320400–2320407).

The goal of the test is to evaluate the position sensitivity of a neutron detector assembled from a plastic scintillator panel equipped with an array of silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) for light readout. The SiPMs measure small amounts of light produced in the scintillator when neutrons collide with protons and scatter them in the scintillator. Careful analysis of the signals recorded from the SiPMs will determine the position at which the scintillation light was produced and thus where the neutron interacted in the scintillator. Tests were run with two different SiPM arrangements and three different scintillator thicknesses. MoNA Collaborators were supported by TUNL researchers Sean Finch and Forrest Friesen, who prepared neutron beams at energies of 8 MeV and 5 MeV.

Each of the undergraduate students performed mission critical tasks during the experiment, and here’s a list of some of these:

Hanna Gebremariam	Augustana	array assembly, offline data analysis
Mackenzie Lauridsen	Augustana	array assembly, offline data analysis
Luke Dalzell	Augustana	array assembly, offline data analysis
RJ Devlin	Davidson	translation stage, run recording
Mace Mierisch	JMU	array configuration & assembly
Lucas Fisher	JMU	SiPM testing
Jalen Felix	VSU	array cabling & trouble-shooting, offline data analysis
Trinity Allen	VSU	cable labeling & array assembly, offline data analysis
Justin Brown	VSU	array cabling, offline data analysis
Sarah Timothy	VSU	run log information

The data will be analyzed to quantify how accurate the position measurement can be, and this will inform the final design for the detectors, which will be constructed at the collaborating institutions starting in the summer 2025. Once completed, the detectors will be used in experiments at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams to study rare nuclei that decay via neutron-emission on incredibly short time scales.

Group picture of the research team. From left to right: Nathan Frank (Augustana College), Thomas Redpath (VSU), Sean Finch (TUNL), RJ Devlin (Davidson College), Nico Mendez (MSU), Juan Lois Fuentes (MSU), Anthony Kuchera (Davidson College), Hanna Gebremariam (Augustana College), Andrew Wantz (MSU), Thomas Baumann (MSU), Adriana Banu, Mace Mierisch (James Madison University), Jalen Felix (VSU), Mackenzie Lauridsen, Luke Dalzell (Augustana College), Trinity Allen, Justin Brown, Sarah Timothy (VSU).

Anthony Kuchara (left) and RJ Devlin (right, both Davidson College) mount a detector on the remote-controlled positioning frame.

NGn prototype using an array of detector bricks

Jalen Felix (VSU, left) working with Mackenzie Lauridsen (center) and Hanna Gebremariam (right, Augustana College) to assemble the SiPM array for one of the detector tests.

Thomas Baumann (MSU, left) and Lucas Fisher (JMU, right) test SiPM detector bricks offline.

MoNA scientists at TUNL

Several MoNA PIs and their students traveled to TUNL to test prototype detector elements. Collaborations like this are at the heart of the nuclear physics community. John Kelley posted about the visit on the TUNL Facebook page.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/33666309281

DNP 2024

MoNA at the Fall APS DNP Meeting, October 2024

A total of nine MoNA Collaboration members participated in the Fall 2024 meeting of the American Physical Society's Division of Nuclear Physics (DNP), which took place October 7-10 2024 at the Hilton Boston Park Plaza in Boston, MA.

Contributed talks and posters covered a wide range of topics, including development of the next generation neutron detector (NGn), progress on machine-learning applied to multi-neutron filtering, neutron scattering observations at LANSCE, including new inelastic n-C scattering cross sections determined at LANSCE using a diamond detector as active target, development of a liquid hydrogen target and vertex tracker for invariant mass measurements at FRIB, and investigation of neutron-rich pre-fragment distributions in fragmentation reactions. 

Talks:

Thomas Baumann: K11.00005 : Development and Testing of Prototypes for the Next Generation Neutron Detector

Juan Lois Fuentes: E11.00003 : Machine Learning techniques for cross-talk rejection in two-neutron decays for MoNA

Anthony Kuchera: R10.00005 : Measurements of fast neutron scattering on carbon via a diamond detector at LANSCE

Nico Mendez: P10.00002:  Analysis of 12C Neutron Elastic Scattering Data using CoGNAC at the LANSCE White Neutron Source

Aldric Revel: E12.00008 : Perspectives for a thick liquid hydrogen target and vertex tracker for neutron invariant-mass measurement at FRIB

Warren Rogers: J11.00002 : Observation of neutron scattering from MoNA detectors at LANSCE and comparison with simulation      

Georgia Votta: D13.00002 : Investigating neutron-rich pre-fragment distributions in projectile fragmentation reactions

Andrew Wantz: R10.00006 : Cross-section Measurements of Neutron-induced Inelastic Reactions on 12C

Posters:

Olivia Lucas CEU Poster: G00.00025: NGn Prototype Neutron Detector Development Using Cosmic Muons