Question

Briefly discuss:

(i) The principles of detecting thermal neutrons utilizing a Si detector.
(ii) The physics of fast neutron detection.
(iii) The principle of operation of strip detectors for charged particle detection and
their application

Answer 1

(i) The principles of detecting thermal neutrons utilizing a Si detector:

Si (Silicon) semiconductor is used to detect thermal neutrons by doping Li (Lithium) into it. When the neutron hits the Si (Silicon) detector, spontaneous energy reaction occurs due to presence of Li (Lithium) which results in production of electron-hole pairs in the semiconductor. Later these pairs are calibrated to detection of neutrons.

(ii) The physics of fast neutron detection is as follow:

The fast neutrons are very reactive and decay very fast, so to detect them, their thermal energies must be reduced, which results to decrease in their velocity. During this process, they release certain radiations and energy, which is later amplified and used to detect the neutron.

(iii) The principle of operation of strip detectors for charged particle detection and
their application:

Strip detector consists layers of strips of high sensitive material (eg. highly doped semiconductor etc.), when a charge particle hits this strip there will be potential difference between them, which results in the paricles detection.