Speaker
Description
The Ion Beam Center (IBC) at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) is a unique user facility with decades of experience in materials research using ion beams of nearly all stable elements in a wide energy range from some eV up to 60 MeV. The IBC operates several electrostatic ion accelerators, ion implanters, low energy, highly charged, and fine-focused ion beam systems. The IBC provides experimental equipment for materials modification via ion implantation and irradiation, all types of ion beam analysis of materials, surface processing by low-energy, highly-charged, and focused ion beams, as well as for accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS).
Neutron beamlines are currently planned to be constructed at the 6 MV Tandetron of the IBC. Neutrons provide information that cannot be obtained with other methods and open new opportunities for material analysis at IBC, such as imaging and 3D tomography with fast and thermal neutrons, prompt and delayed gamma neutron activation analysis (PGNAA & DGNAA), and investigations of radionuclides production for radiopharmacology. The concept of the neutron source for the planned beamlines is based on the production of neutrons from the interaction of a proton beam with a beryllium target. A Monte Carlo (MC) simulation study was performed to design and evaluate the neutron beamlines using the FLUKA MC code (version 2023.3.1). In addition to the proton-beryllium interaction for neutron production, the study evaluates the possibility of using heavier ions, such as lithium, as a driver beam and hydrogen-rich material as a target. An overview of the planned neutron beamlines and the results of the neutronic and radiation protection parameters associated with the beamline design will be presented and discussed.
