Reliability estimation of neutron resonance thermometry using tantalum and tungsten

Kai, Tetsuya   ; Hiroi, Kosuke  ; Su, Y. H.  ; Shinohara, Takenao   ; Parker, J. D.*; Matsumoto, Yoshihiro*; Hayashida, Hirotoshi*; Segawa, Mariko   ; Nakatani, Takeshi ; Oikawa, Kenichi   ; Zhang, S.*; Kiyanagi, Yoshiaki*

Neutron resonance thermometry, which measures material temperature by analyzing the Doppler broadening of a neutron resonance peak, is one of the applications of energy-resolved neutron imaging at RADEN of J-PARC. Although this technique is promising, advantages and disadvantages have not been discussed in practical applications. The authors measured neutron transmission rates of tantalum and tungsten foils in a heater chamber up to 300 degrees Celsius at RADEN. The energy-dependent neutron transmission rates with different statistics were obtained after the measurements by selecting arbitrary measuring intervals from one measurement, and the temperatures of the foils were estimated from those transmission rates with different statistics. The reliability of the neutron resonance thermometry with statistical accuracy, irradiation time and spatial resolution are discussed.