Application of Energy‐Resolving Neutron Imaging to Major‐Component Analyses of Materials Using Four‐Channel Superconducting Detector

Abstract

We proposed a current‐biased kinetic inductance detector (CB‐KID) as a novel superconducting detector to construct a neutron transmission imager. The characteristics of a superconducting neutron detector have been systematically studied to improve a spatial resolution down to 10 in transmission imaging. In this study, we report the application of the energy‐resolving neutron imaging to investigate major components of materials by analyzing neutron transmission spectra from 1 meV to 500 keV. We succeeded in identifying that copper (Cu) and iron (Fe) are major components respectively in commercial nuts and screws as test samples with the aid of Rietveld imaging of transmission spectra (RITS) program in analyzing transmission spectra in longer wavelengths. The Ti screw was also confirmed by comparing the nuclear resonance absorption measurements and simulations in high‐energy regions. We demonstrated that our superconducting neutron detector is applicable to reveal the transmission spectra in the wide range from cold‐neutron energies to higher neutron energies even up to 500 keV. By selecting distinctive energy regions of pulsed neutrons, we succeeded in mapping the distribution of SmSn3 compound using the strong neutron absorption in samarium (Sm) and the selective nuclear‐resonance dips in Sm. By taking advantage of using CB‐KID in conducting neutron imaging, the CB‐KID method is extensively useful for various purposes in material sciences through energy‐selective neutron spectroscopy from 1 meV to 500 keV. © 2024 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan and Wiley Periodicals LLC.