Papers by Matthew Blackston
U.S. Department of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information - OSTI OAI, Aug 1, 2021
Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, 2013
In order to design a next-generation, dual neutron and gamma imager for mobile standoff detection... more In order to design a next-generation, dual neutron and gamma imager for mobile standoff detection which uses coded aperture imaging as its primary detection modality, the following design parameters have been investigated for gamma and neutron radiation incident upon a hybrid, coded mask: (1) transmission through mask elements for various mask materials and thicknesses; and (2) signal attenuation in the mask versus angle of incidence. Each of these parameters directly affects detection significance, as quantified by the signal-to-noise ratio. The hybrid mask consists of two or three layers: organic material for fast neutron attenuation and scattering, Cd for slow neutron absorption (if applied), and one of three of the following photon or photon and slow neutron attenuating materials-Linotype alloy, CLYC, or CZT. In the MCNP model, a line source of gamma rays (100-2500 keV), fast neutrons (1000-10,000 keV) or thermal neutrons was positioned above the hybrid mask. The radiation penetrating the mask was simply tallied at the surface of an ideal detector, which was located below the surface of the last mask layer. The transmission was calculated as the ratio of the particles transmitted through the fixed aperture to the particles passing through the closed mask. In order to determine the performance of the mask considering relative motion between the source and detector, simulations were used to calculate the signal attenuation for incident radiation angles of 0-501. The results showed that a hybrid mask can be designed to sufficiently reduce both transmission through the mask and signal loss at large angles of incidence, considering both gamma ray and fast neutron radiations. With properly selected material thicknesses, the signal loss of a hybrid mask, which is necessarily thicker than the mask required for either single mode imaging, is not a setback to the system's detection significance.
arXiv: Nuclear Experiment, 2018
This release includes data and information necessary to perform independent analyses of the COHER... more This release includes data and information necessary to perform independent analyses of the COHERENT result presented in Akimov et al., arXiv:1708.01294 [nucl-ex]. Data is shared in a binned, text-based format, including both "signal" and "background" regions, so that counts and associated uncertainties can be quantitatively calculated for the purpose of separate analyses. This document describes the included information and its format, offering some guidance on use of the data. Accompanying code examples show basic interaction with the data using Python.
D. Akimov, P. An, 3 C. Awe, 3 P.S. Barbeau, 3 B. Becker, V. Belov, 1 I. Bernardi, M.A. Blackston,... more D. Akimov, P. An, 3 C. Awe, 3 P.S. Barbeau, 3 B. Becker, V. Belov, 1 I. Bernardi, M.A. Blackston, C. Bock, A. Bolozdynya, J. Browning, B. Cabrera-Palmer, D. Chernyak, ∗ E. Conley, J. Daughhetee, J. Detwiler, K. Ding, M.R. Durand, Y. Efremenko, 6 S.R. Elliott, L. Fabris, M. Febbraro, A. Gallo Rosso, A. Galindo-Uribarri, 4 M.P. Green, 6, 8 M.R. Heath, S. Hedges, 3 D. Hoang, M. Hughes, T. Johnson, 3 A. Khromov, A. Konovalov, 5 E. Kozlova, 5 A. Kumpan, L. Li, 3 J.M. Link, J. Liu, K. Mann, D.M. Markoff, 3 J. Mastroberti, P.E. Mueller, J. Newby, D.S. Parno, S.I. Penttila, D. Pershey, R. Rapp, H. Ray, J. Raybern, O. Razuvaeva, 5 D. Reyna, G.C. Rich, J. Ross, 3 D. Rudik, J. Runge, 3 D.J. Salvat, A.M. Salyapongse, K. Scholberg, A. Shakirov, G. Simakov, 5 G. Sinev, †W.M. Snow, V. Sosnovstsev, B. Suh, R. Tayloe, K. Tellez-Giron-Flores, I. Tolstukhin, ‡ E. Ujah, 3 J. Vanderwerp, R.L. Varner, C.J. Virtue, G. Visser, T. Wongjirad, Y.-R. Yen, J. Yoo, C.-H. Yu, and J. Zettlemoyer § National Resear...
arXiv: Instrumentation and Detectors, 2020
We report on the preparation of and calibration measurements with a $^{83\mathrm{m}}$Kr source fo... more We report on the preparation of and calibration measurements with a $^{83\mathrm{m}}$Kr source for the CENNS-10 liquid argon detector. $^{83\mathrm{m}}$Kr atoms generated in the decay of a $^{83}$Rb source were introduced into the detector via injection into the Ar circulation loop. Scintillation light arising from the 9.4 keV and 32.1 keV conversion electrons in the decay of $^{83\mathrm{m}}$Kr in the detector volume were then observed. This calibration source allows the characterization of the low-energy response of the CENNS-10 detector and is applicable to other low-energy-threshold detectors. The energy resolution of the detector was measured to be 9$\%$ at the total $^{83\mathrm{m}}$Kr decay energy of 41.5 keV. We performed an analysis to separately calibrate the detector using the two conversion electrons at 9.4 keV and 32.1 keV
Bulletin of the American Physical Society, 2017
In the past year, a prototype fast-neutron coded-aperture imager has been developed that has suff... more In the past year, a prototype fast-neutron coded-aperture imager has been developed that has sufficient efficiency and resolution to make the counting of warheads for possible future treaty confirmation scenarios via their fission-neutron emissions practical. The imager is constructed from custom-built pixelated liquid scintillator detectors. The liquid scintillator detectors enable neutron-gamma discrimination via pulse shape, and the pixelated construction enables a sufficient number of pixels for imaging in a compact detector with a manageable number of channels of readout electronics. The imager has been used to image neutron sources at ORNL, special nuclear material (SNM) sources at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Zero Power Physics Reactor (ZPPR) facility, and neutron source and shielding configurations at Sandia National Laboratories. This paper reports on the design and construction of the imager, characterization measurements with neutron sources at ORNL, and measuremen...
Bulletin of the American Physical Society, 2006
The vector analyzing powers, $ A_y (\ theta, E) $, of the $^{11} B (\ vec {p}, p)^{11} B $ reacti... more The vector analyzing powers, $ A_y (\ theta, E) $, of the $^{11} B (\ vec {p}, p)^{11} B $ reaction were measured as a function of angle and energy as part of a program to study the reaction $^{11} B (p,\ alpha) 2\ alpha $. The experiment was performed at the Triangle ...
PRECISION MEASUREMENTS OF DEUTERON PHOTODISINTEGRATION USING LINEARLY POLARIZED PHOTONS OF 14 AND... more PRECISION MEASUREMENTS OF DEUTERON PHOTODISINTEGRATION USING LINEARLY POLARIZED PHOTONS OF 14 AND 16 MEV by Matthew Blackston Department of Physics Duke University
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Papers by Matthew Blackston