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Energy-resolved neutron imaging is an effective way to investigate the internal structure and residual stress of materials. Different sample sizes have varying requirements for the detector's imaging field of view (FOV) and spatial resolution. Therefore, a dual-mode energy-resolved neutron imaging detector was developed, which mainly consisted of a neutron scintillator screen, a mirror, imaging lenses, and a time-stamping optical fast camera. This detector could operate in a large FOV mode or a high spatial resolution mode. To evaluate the performance of the detector, the neutron wavelength spectra and the multiple spatial resolution tests were conducted at CSNS. The results demonstrated that the detector accurately measured the neutron wavelength spectra selected by a bandwidth chopper. The best spatial resolution was about 20 μm in high spatial resolution mode after event reconstruction, and a FOV of 45.0 mm × 45.0 mm was obtained in large FOV mode. The feasibility was validated to change the spatial resolution and FOV by replacing the scintillator screen and adjusting the lens magnification.

Gadolinium oxysulfide (GOS) is regarded as a novel scintillator for the realization of ultra-high spatial resolution in neutron imaging. Monte Carlo simulations of GOS scintillator show that the capability of its spatial resolution is towards the micron level. Through the time-of-flight method, the light output of a GOS scintillator was measured to be 217 photons per captured neutron, ∼100 times lower than that of a ZnS/LiF:Ag scintillator. A detector prototype has been developed to evaluate the imaging solution with the GOS scintillator by neutron beam tests. The measured spatial resolution is ∼36 μm (28 line pairs/mm) at the modulation transfer function (MTF) of 10%, mainly limited by the low experimental collimation ratio of the beamline. The weak light output of the GOS scintillator requires an enormous increase in the neutron flux to reduce the exposure time for practical applications.

A novel ceramic Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) has been developed to meet the demand of high counting rate for the neutron detection which is an alternative to 3He-based detector at China Spallation Neutron Source (CSNS). An experiment was performed to measure the neutron transmittance of ceramic-GEM and FR4-GEM at the small angle neutron scattering (SANS) instrument. The result showed the ceramic-GEM has higher transmittance and less self-scattering especially for cold neutrons. One single ceramic GEM could give a gain of 102-104 in the mixture gas of Ar and CO2 (90%:10%) and its energy resolution was about 27.7% by using 55Fe X ray of 5.9 keV. A prototype has been developed in order to investigate the performances of the ceramic GEM-based neutron detector. Several neutron beam tests, including detection efficiency, spatial resolution, two-dimensional imaging, and wavelength spectrum, were carried out at CSNS and China Mianyang Research Reactor (CMRR). The results show that the ceramic GEM-based neutron detector is a good candidate to measure the high intensity neutrons.