The BDS (Bubble Detector Spectrometer) is based on specially formulated bubble detectors that have different neutron energy thresholds. Similar to fast-neutron activation detectors, the measured spectrum from the BDS is derived by “unfolding” the response of the different detectors of the BDS. Each spectral measurement is made with 36 detectors (6 of each threshold supplied – 10, 100, 600, 1000, 2500, 10000 keV). It has two very important properties – it is completely insensitive to gamma rays allowing it to be used in areas with intense gamma background and since it is passive, it can be used in pulsed radiation fields. The BDS should be used whenever one wants to know something about the energy of the neutron field, especially where the neutron field is only a very small fraction of the total radiation field. The BDS has been used to determine the neutron spectrum in space and is often used in connection with pulsed reactor operations and for assessing the neutron field from medical (or research) accelerators. Detectors can be re-used through recompression in a pressure chamber (available from BTI). |
