Fabrication and characterization of the source grating for visibility improvement of neutron phase imaging with gratings

Journal Article · Sat Jun 15 00:00:00 EDT 2013 · Review of Scientific Instruments

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4810014· OSTI ID:22118652

Kim, Jongyul ^[1]; Lee, Kye Hong; Lim, Chang Hwy; Kim, Taejoo ^[1]; Ahn, Chi Won ^[2]; Cho, Gyuseong ^[3]; Lee, Seung Wook ^[4]

---

1. Neutron Science Division, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon 305-353 (Korea, Republic of)
2. Nano Fusion Technology Division, National Nanofab Center, Daejeon 305-701 (Korea, Republic of)
3. Nuclear and Quantum Engineering Department, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon 305-701 (Korea, Republic of)
4. School of Mechanical Engineering, Pusan National University, Pusan 609-735 (Korea, Republic of)

The fabrication of gratings including metal deposition processes for highly neutron absorbing lines is a critical issue to achieve a good visibility of the grating-based phase imaging system. The source grating for a neutron Talbot-Lau interferometer is an array of Gadolinium (Gd) structures that are generally made by sputtering, photo-lithography, and chemical wet etching. However, it is very challenging to fabricate a Gd structure with sufficient neutron attenuation of approximately more than 20 {mu}m using a conventional metal deposition method because of the slow Gd deposition rate, film stress, high material cost, and so on. In this article, we fabricated the source gratings for neutron Talbot-Lau interferometers by filling the silicon structure with Gadox particles. The new fabrication method allowed us a very stable and efficient way to achieve a much higher Gadox filled structure than a Gd film structure, and is even more suitable for thermal polychromatic neutrons, which are more difficult to stop than cold neutrons. The newly fabricated source gratings were tested at the polychromatic thermal neutron grating interferometer system of HANARO at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, and the visibilities and images from the neutron phase imaging system with the new source gratings were compared with those fabricated by a Gd deposition method.

• OSTI ID: 22118652
• Journal Information: Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 84, Issue 6; Other Information: (c) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0034-6748
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
COLD NEUTRONS
DEPOSITION
DIFFRACTION GRATINGS
FABRICATION
FILMS
GADOLINIUM
GRATINGS
HANARO REACTOR
INTERFEROMETERS
INTERFEROMETRY
KAERI
PARTICLES
SPUTTERING
THERMAL NEUTRONS
VISIBILITY