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Single-crystal chemical vapor-deposited diamond (sCVD) was investigated for its ability to act as fission-fragment detector. In particular we investigated timing and energy resolution for application in a simultaneous time-of-flight and energy measurement to determine the mass of the detected fission fragment. Previous tests have shown that poly-crystalline chemical vapor deposited (pCVD) diamonds provide sufficient timing resolution, but their poor energy resolution did not allow complete separation between very low-energy fission fragments, α-particles and noise. Our present investigations prove artificial sCVD diamonds to show similar timing resolution as pCVD diamonds close to 100ps. Improved pulse-height resolution allows the unequivocal separation of fission fragments, and the detection efficiency reaches 100%, but remains with about a few percent behind requirements for fragment-mass identification. With high-speed digital electronics a timing resolution well below 100ps is possible. However, the strongly varying quality of the presently available diamond material does not allow application on a sufficiently large scale within reasonable investments.

Recent experimental investigations on major and minor actinides at the JRC-IRMM are presented. Fission-fragment distributions of isotopes with vibrational resonances in the sub-threshold fission cross section, i. e. 234,238U, have been measured. For 234U, the impact of an increased neutron multiplicity for the heavy fragments with higher incident neutron energies has been studied as observed in experiment and also recently theoretically predicted. The impact is found to be noticeable on post-neutron mass yields, which are the relevant quantities for a-priori waste assessments. The fission cross sections for 240,242Pu at threshold and in the plateau region are being investigated within the ANDES project. The results show some discrepancies to the ENDF/B-VII.1 evaluation mainly for 242Pu around 1 MeV, where the evaluation exhibits a resonance-like structure not observed so clearly in the present work. The requested target accuracy in design studies of innovative reactor concepts like Gen-IV is in the range of a few percent. In order to be able to respond to requests for measurements of prompt neutron and γ-ray emission in fission JRC-IRMM has also invested in setting up a neutron and γ-ray detector array. The neutron array is called SCINTIA and has so far been tested with 252Cf(SF). For γ-ray multiplicity and spectrum measurements of 252Cf(SF) and 235U(nth, f) lanthanum- and cerium-halide detectors were successfully used., JRC.D.4-Standards for Nuclear Safety, Security and Safeguards

The average Total Kinetic Energy (TKE ) release and fission-fragment yields in neutron-induced fission of 235 U and 238 U was measured using a Frisch-gridded ionization chamber. These observables are important nuclear data quantites that are relevant to applications and for informing the next generation of fission models. The measurements were performed a the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center and cover E n = 200 keV – 30 MeV. The double-energy (2E) method was used to determine the fission-fragment yields and two methods of correcting for prompt-neutron emission were explored. The results of this study are correlated mass and TKE data.

Diamond-like carbon (DLC) is a promising new wall coating material for use in applications with Ultracold Neutrons (UCN). It can potentially replace the toxic beryllium which has been widely used for the storage and transport of UCN. Our aim is to produce DLC-coated neutron guide tubes of up to 1.2 m length with a Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) setup which is currently under construction. In order to find optimal process parameters and appropriate settings for the tube coating facility, we are carrying out a research program which includes the production and characterization of DLC films on small test samples. The characterization of the test samples is done by Raman spectroscopy, X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Neutron Reflectometry. We report on first results from the test samples with sp 3 fractions up to 55% and give an overview of the tube coating setup.

For highly sensitive magnetic measurements, e.g., a measurement of the neutron electric dipole moment (EDM), the magnetic field has to be stable in time on a level below picoTesla. One of several measures we employ to achieve this uses an external field coil system which can stabilize the ambient external field at a predefined value. Here we report on the construction and characterization of such a system in the magnetic test facility at PSI. The system actively stabilizes the field along the axis of the EDM experiment by means of four coils in a Helmholtz-like configuration. Additional coils serve to compensate for transverse ambient field components. Because of the long integration times in the EDM experiment (about 100 s or more) only slow disturbances have to be corrected for. The performance of the system has been measured using static and moving magnetic sources and suppression factors in excess of 200 have been observed.

Solid deuterium (sD2) will be used for the production of ultra-cold neutrons (UCN) in a new generation of UCN sources. Scattering cross sections of UCN in sD2 determine the source yield but until now have not been investigated. We report first results from transmission and scattering experiments with cold, very cold and ultra-cold neutrons on sD2 along with light transmission and Raman scattering studies showing the influence of the sD2 crystal properties.

In this paper we present results from measurements of prompt gamma rays from the thermal neutron induced fission of U-235. Photons were measured in coincidence with fission fragments with cerium-doped LaCl3 and LaBr3 as well as CeBr3 scintillation detectors, which offer an intriguing combination of excellent timing resolution and good resolving power. The spectra measured with all employed detectors are in excellent agreement with respect to their shapes. Characteristic parameters were extracted for a gamma-energy range from 0.1 to 6.0 MeV and the results obtained with several detectors were averaged. From that, the average emission yield of prompt-fission gamma rays was determined to be (nu) over bar (gamma) = (8.19 +/- 0.11) per fission, the average energy per photon to be epsilon(gamma) = (0.85 +/- 0.02) MeV, and the total energy to be E-gamma,E-tot = (6.92 +/- 0.09) MeV. The uncertainties are much lower than the 7.5% requested for the modeling of advanced nuclear reactor cores. Estimating the influence of gamma rays with energies between 6 and 10 MeV on the values determined in this work revealed a negligible deviation of the order of the found uncertainties.

The total scattering cross sections for slow neutrons with energies E in the range 300 neV to 3 meV for gaseous and liquid ortho-{sup 2}H{sub 2} have been measured. The cross sections for {sup 2}H{sub 2} gas are found to be in excellent agreement with both the Hamermesh and Schwinger and the Young and Koppel models. For liquid {sup 2}H{sub 2}, we confirm the existing experimental data in the cold neutron range and the discrepancy with the gas models. We find a clear 1/{radical}(E{sup '}) dependence at low energies for both states. A simple explanation for the liquid {sup 2}H{sub 2} cross section is offered.

The production rates of ultracold neutrons (UCN) from cold neutrons on gaseous, liquid, and solid deuterium targets have been measured. The comparison of the measured and calculated UCN production on gaseous ${}^{2}{H}_{2}$ is used to calibrate the simulated target extraction and transport efficiencies of the experimental apparatus. The production cross section in solid ${}^{2}{H}_{2}$ at 8 K for UCN with energies between 0 and 250 neV is ${R}_{\mathrm{solid},8 K}={\ensuremath{\sigma}}_{\mathrm{solid},8 K}^{\mathrm{CN}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\mathrm{UCN}} \ensuremath{\rho}=(1.11\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.23)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}8}\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}{\mathrm{cm}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$. This value is consistent with other experiments in which UCN had been extracted from ${}^{2}{H}_{2}$. The value also agrees with calculations using the incoherent approximation and a simple Debye model and corroborates predictions for UCN densities expected at the high-intensity UCN source at the Paul Scherrer Institut. The temperature dependence of the UCN production in solid ${}^{2}{H}_{2}$ down to 8 K can be explained within the same model when multiple-phonon excitation is included.