Coincidence Detection for Neutron Activation Analysis
<p>A new large neutrino detector called KamLAND (Kamioka Liquid scintillator AntiN eutrino Detector) is currently being constructed in the underground site in Japan that used to be the home of the Kamiokande experiment. The principal goal of this international collaboration will be to inves...
| Summary: | <p>A new large neutrino detector called KamLAND (Kamioka Liquid scintillator AntiN
eutrino Detector) is currently being constructed in the underground site in Japan that used
to be the home of the Kamiokande experiment. The principal goal of this international collaboration
will be to investigate neutrino oscillations by studying the flux and energy spectra
of neutrinos produced by nuclear reactors in Japan. KamLAND will also be measuring solar
neutrinos in an effort to solve the solar neutrino deficit puzzle. In addition, it is possible
to extract the ratio of uranium to thorium in the crust and mantle of the Earth from the
background of the reactor neutrino spectra.</p>
<p>To achieve high precisions in the measurements, KamLAND must first minimize its
background signals. The collaborators at Caltech have been involved in measuring the
radioactivity of the materials used in constructing the detector. Gamma sources in the
materials are typically detected by placing them next to a Germanium detector in a wellshielded
box. However, as will be shown in the next section, conventional detectors can not
achieve the level of sensitivity necessary to detect the small amounts of radioactivity allowed
in the KamLAND scintillator. The purpose of this thesis project is to design and build a
coincidence setup that will be able to measure the radioactivity of the liquid scintillator at
KamLAND using Neutron Activation Analysis of an irradiated sample.</p> |
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