Projection imaging with ultracold neutrons

Creators: Kuk, K.; Cude-Woods, C.; Chavez, C.R.; Choi, J.H.; Estrada, J.; Hoffbauer, M.; Holland, S.E.; Makela, M.; Morris, C.L.; Ramberg, E.; Adamek, E.R.; Bailey, T.; Blatnik, M.; Broussard, L.J.; Brown, M.A.-P.; Callahan, N.B.; Clayton, S.M.; Currie, S.; Filippone, B. W.; Fries, E. M.; Geltenbort, P.; Gonzalez, F.; Hassan, M.T.; Hayen, L.; Hickerson, K. P.; Holley, A.T.; Ito, T.M.; Liu, C.-Y.; Merkel, P.; Musedinovic, R.; O'Shaughnessy, C.; Pattie, R.W.; Plaster, B.; Salvat, D.J.; Saunders, A.; Sharapov, E.I.; Sun, X.; Tang, Z.; Wei, W.; Wexler, J.W.; Young, A.R.; Wang, Zhehui

Abstract

Ultracold neutron (UCN) projection imaging is demonstrated using a boron-coated back-illuminated CCD camera and the Los Alamos UCN source. Each neutron is recorded through the capture reactions with ¹⁰B. By direct detection at least one of the byproducts α, ⁷Li and γ (electron recoils) derived from the neutron capture and reduction of thermal noise of the scientific CCD camera, a signal-to-noise improvement on the order of 10⁴ over the indirect detection has been achieved. Sub-pixel position resolution of a few microns is confirmed for individual UCN events. Projection imaging of test objects shows a spatial resolution less than 100μm by an integrated UCN flux one the order of 10⁶ cm⁻². The bCCD can be used to build UCN detectors with an area on the order of 1 m². The combination of micrometer scale spatial resolution, low readout noise of a few electrons, and large area makes bCCD suitable for quantum science of UCN.

Additional Information

© 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Received 19 February 2021, Revised 24 March 2021, Accepted 30 March 2021, Available online 7 April 2021. This work was funded by the LDRD program of Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA. The CCD development work was supported in part by the Director, Office of Science, of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231. NCSU is supported by National Science Foundation, USA 1914133 and DOE, USA grant DE-FG02-ER41042. CRediT authorship contribution statement K. Kuk: Performed the experiment using B-10 coated CCD, Designed and made the masks. C. Cude-Woods: Performed the experiment using B-10 coated CCD, Designed and made the masks, UCN facility operation, planning, and/or UCN source support and/or inputs to the experimental execution. C.R. Chavez: Performed the experiment using B-10 coated CCD. J.H. Choi: Performed the experiment using B-10 coated CCD, UCN facility operation, planning, and/or UCN source support and/or inputs to the experimental execution. J. Estrada: CCD detector design and/or hardware, Led the data analysis with inputs from the Fermilab team and LANL team, Led the manuscript writing with inputs from all the coauthors. M. Hoffbauer: CCD B-10 coating plan and performed the B-10 coating. S.E. Holland: CCD detector design and/or hardware. M. Makela: Performed the experiment using B-10 coated CCD, Designed and made the masks, UCN facility operation, planning, and/or UCN source support and/or inputs to the experimental execution. C.L. Morris: Performed the experiment using B-10 coated CCD, Designed and made the masks, UCN facility operation, planning, and/or UCN source support and/or inputs to the experimental execution. E. Ramberg: CCD detector design and/or hardware. E.R. Adamek: UCN facility operation, planning, and/or UCN source support and/or inputs to the experimental execution. T. Bailey: UCN facility operation, planning, and/or UCN source support and/or inputs to the experimental execution. M. Blatnik: UCN facility operation, planning, and/or UCN source support and/or inputs to the experimental execution. L.J. Broussard: UCN facility operation, planning, and/or UCN source support and/or inputs to the experimental execution. M.A.-P. Brown: UCN facility operation, planning, and/or UCN source support and/or inputs to the experimental execution. N.B. Callahan: UCN facility operation, planning, and/or UCN source support and/or inputs to the experimental execution. S.M. Clayton: UCN facility operation, planning, and/or UCN source support and/or inputs to the experimental execution. S. Currie: UCN facility operation, planning, and/or UCN source support and/or inputs to the experimental execution. B.W. Filippone: UCN facility operation, planning, and/or UCN source support and/or inputs to the experimental execution. E.M. Fries: UCN facility operation, planning, and/or UCN source support and/or inputs to the experimental execution. P. Geltenbort: UCN facility operation, planning, and/or UCN source support and/or inputs to the experimental execution. F. Gonzalez: UCN facility operation, planning, and/or UCN source support and/or inputs to the experimental execution. M.T. Hassan: UCN facility operation, planning, and/or UCN source support and/or inputs to the experimental execution. L. Hayen: UCN facility operation, planning, and/or UCN source support and/or inputs to the experimental execution. K.P. Hickerson: UCN facility operation, planning, and/or UCN source support and/or inputs to the experimental execution. A.T. Holley: UCN facility operation, planning, and/or UCN source support and/or inputs to the experimental execution. T.M. Ito: UCN facility operation, planning, and/or UCN source support and/or inputs to the experimental execution. C.-Y. Liu: UCN facility operation, planning, and/or UCN source support and/or inputs to the experimental execution. P. Merkel: CCD detector design and/or hardware. R. Musedinovic: UCN facility operation, planning, and/or UCN source support and/or inputs to the experimental execution. C. O'Shaughnessy: UCN facility operation, planning, and/or UCN source support and/or inputs to the experimental execution. R.W. Pattie Jr.: UCN facility operation, planning, and/or UCN source support and/or inputs to the experimental execution. B. Plaster: UCN facility operation, planning, and/or UCN source support and/or inputs to the experimental execution. D.J. Salvat: UCN facility operation, planning, and/or UCN source support and/or inputs to the experimental execution. A. Saunders: UCN facility operation, planning, and/or UCN source support and/or inputs to the experimental execution. E.I. Sharapov: UCN facility operation, planning, and/or UCN source support and/or inputs to the experimental execution. X. Sun: UCN facility operation, planning, and/or UCN source support and/or inputs to the experimental execution. Z. Tang: UCN facility operation, planning, and/or UCN source support and/or inputs to the experimental execution. W. Wei: UCN facility operation, planning, and/or UCN source support and/or inputs to the experimental execution. J.W. Wexler: UCN facility operation, planning, and/or UCN source support and/or inputs to the experimental execution. A.R. Young: UCN facility operation, planning, and/or UCN source support and/or inputs to the experimental execution. Zhehui Wang: Performed the experiment using B-10 coated CCD, CCD detector design and/or hardware, CCD B-10 coating plan and performed the B-10 coating, Led the manuscript writing with inputs from all the coauthors, Initiated the work with feedbacks and refinement of the plans from all the coauthors. The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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