Neutronic studies on decoupled hydrogen moderator for a short-pulse spallation source

Harada, Masahide; Watanabe, Noboru; Teshigawara, Makoto; Kai, Tetsuya; Ikeda, Yujiro

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A, 539(1-2), p.345 - 362, 2005/02

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2004.10.013

Neutronic studies of decoupled hydrogen moderators were performed by calculations taking into account para hydrogen content, decoupling energy, moderator dimensions/shapes and reflector material. Low-energy parts of calculated spectral intensities with different para hydrogen contents were analyzed by a modified Maxwell function to characterize neutron spectra. The result shows that a 100% para hydrogen moderator gives the highest pulse peak intensity together with the narrowest pulse width and the shortest decay times. Pulse broadening with a reflector was explained by time distributions of source neutrons entering into the moderator through a decoupler. Material dependence of time distribution was studied. A decoupling energy higher than 1 eV does not bring about a large improvement in pulse widths and decay times, even at a large penalty in the peak intensity. The optimal moderator thickness was also discussed for a rectangular parallelepiped shape and a canteen shape moderators.