A novel method to improve the spatial resolution of GEM neutron
detectors with a stopping layer
Abstract
This paper proposes a novel method to improve the spatial resolution of
ceramic GEM detectors by adding a stopping layer on top of the solid
10B4C neutron converter. This will restrict the
emission of the secondary ion products of large angles and consequently
improve the spatial resolution. The Monte Carlo program FLUKA is used to
validate the method, and the verification experiments are carried out at
the beam line #20 (BL20) of the China Spallation Neutron Source (CSNS).
The experimental results are approximately in agreement with the
simulations. The measured spatial resolution is 1.61 mm for the GEM
neutron detector operated at ambient pressure with a 1-μm-thick
10B4C converter, and it is improved to
~0.8 mm by coating a 3-μm-thick titanium on top of the
10B4C converter.