The neutron detector

. maandag 7 februari 2011
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Got myself an XP1000 photomultiplier tube for only 5 euro's!


Marktplaats is just great for all those people who want to build a nuclear fusion reactor.
I took a look at "Avalanche photodiodes", but they are way more expensive than used PMT's, they also need a high voltage (not as high as the PMT's, but still a high voltage), and they are less sensitive.
Finding the datasheet of the XP1000 turned out to be a bit hard, even the original manufacturer (Philips) didn't have it anymore.
So if anyone out there has a complete datasheet of the XP1000 PMT, please leave a note on this blog!
Everything you ever wanted to know about photomultipliers but were afraid to ask is here.
I did find some info about the XP1000 in an online "radio museum", it's not much, but enough to get it working.
The moderator can be normal plastic (PE) and I got some scintillator foil from ebay. It's ZnS with Ag, came with documentation, got to read it 3 or 4 times to make some sense out of it.
I would prefer to use BC-720 as a scintillator from "Saint Gobin Crystals" since it would only detect the fast neutrons, it would be insensitive to gamma en I would not need the moderator.
But it's too expensive. If anyone has some fast-neutron specific scintillator for sale, please leave a note on this blog, I cannot find it on any surplus or second hand site.

Aren't tubes just great! Makes me think of Edison who first found out about "cathode rays", sure if people like Franklin, Edison or Tesla were still alive they would work on fusion now.
We need fusion, we cannot keep burning oil and we sure cannot produce radioactive material which will be dangerous for another 10000 years!
We are unable to plan something over more that 5 years, so what are we thinking when producing radioactive waste!

For now, the vacuum pumping and chamber comes first, but in time I would need to calibrate my neutron detector.
If there is anyone out there who has a source of fast neutrons of known intensity and wants to calibrate my neutron detector, please leave a note.

1 reacties:

Tony zei

Hi,
Did you ever find a datasheet? - I have one for the XP1600 if that's any use - it's the 16 stage version of this PMT.

Tony.