Resonance Measurements at Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute
Ezekiel Blain, Devin Barry, Greg Leinweber, Michael Rapp,
and Yaron Danon
1 Introduction
The Gaerttner Linear Accelerator (LINAC) Center houses a 60 MeV electron
linear accelerator located at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). The LINAC is
primarily used for cross-section measurements and provides accurate nuclear data
from the thermal region up to 20 MeV. These measurements are a combination
of transmission, capture, scattering, and fission measurements. The time-of-flight
(ToF) technique is used to obtain the cross section as a function of the incident
neutron energy. Flight paths exist at a range of detector locations from 15 m
out to 250 m which can provide excellent energy resolution for a wide range of
experiments. The accelerator operates at pulse widths down to 8 ns and can operate
at peak currents as high as 3 A. This results in a neutron flux of approximately
4 × 10 13 neutrons per second. Additionally, an upgrade is currently underway for
the facility which will greatly increase the neutron flux from the facility allowing
for more sophisticated measurements to be performed. An overview of some of the
experimental detector systems as well as recent measurement results are as follows.
E. Blain () · Y. Danon
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, USA
e-mail: blaine2@rpi.edu
D. Barry · G. Leinweber · M. Rapp
Naval Nuclear Laboratory, Schenectady, NY, USA
© This is a U.S. government work and not under copyright protection
in the U.S.; foreign copyright protection may apply 2021
J. Escher et al. (eds.), Compound-Nuclear Reactions, Springer Proceedings in
Physics 254, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58082-7_39
309
Polytechnic Institute
Ezekiel Blain, Devin Barry, Greg Leinweber, Michael Rapp,
and Yaron Danon
1 Introduction
The Gaerttner Linear Accelerator (LINAC) Center houses a 60 MeV electron
linear accelerator located at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). The LINAC is
primarily used for cross-section measurements and provides accurate nuclear data
from the thermal region up to 20 MeV. These measurements are a combination
of transmission, capture, scattering, and fission measurements. The time-of-flight
(ToF) technique is used to obtain the cross section as a function of the incident
neutron energy. Flight paths exist at a range of detector locations from 15 m
out to 250 m which can provide excellent energy resolution for a wide range of
experiments. The accelerator operates at pulse widths down to 8 ns and can operate
at peak currents as high as 3 A. This results in a neutron flux of approximately
4 × 10 13 neutrons per second. Additionally, an upgrade is currently underway for
the facility which will greatly increase the neutron flux from the facility allowing
for more sophisticated measurements to be performed. An overview of some of the
experimental detector systems as well as recent measurement results are as follows.
E. Blain () · Y. Danon
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, USA
e-mail: blaine2@rpi.edu
D. Barry · G. Leinweber · M. Rapp
Naval Nuclear Laboratory, Schenectady, NY, USA
© This is a U.S. government work and not under copyright protection
in the U.S.; foreign copyright protection may apply 2021
J. Escher et al. (eds.), Compound-Nuclear Reactions, Springer Proceedings in
Physics 254, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58082-7_39
309