Study of neutron shielding collimators for curved beamlines at the European Spallation Source

TL;DR

This paper evaluates various neutron shielding collimator options for curved beamlines at the European Spallation Source, aiming to optimize background reduction, cost, and activation levels in neutron instruments.

Contribution

It provides a comparative analysis of different collimator materials and designs to identify the most effective solutions for neutron background mitigation.

Findings

Optimal collimator materials identified for background reduction.

Trade-offs between cost, background, and activation levels analyzed.

Guidelines for selecting collimator options at ESS established.

Abstract

The European Spallation Source is being constructed in Lund, Sweden and is planned to be the world's brightest pulsed spallation neutron source for cold and thermal neutron beams ($\le$ 1 eV). The facility uses a 2 GeV proton beam to produce neutrons from a tungsten target. The neutrons are then moderated in a moderator assembly consisting of both liquid hydrogen and water compartments. Surrounding the moderator are 22 beamports, which view the moderator's outside surfaces. The beamports are connected to long neutron guides that transport the moderated neutrons to the sample position via reflections. As well as the desired moderated neutrons, fast neutrons coming directly from the target can find their way down the beamlines. These can create unwanted sources of background for the instruments. To mitigate such a kind of background, several instruments will use curved guides to lose direct line-of-sight (LoS) to the moderator and the target. In addition instruments can also use shielding collimators to reduce the amount of fast neutrons further traveling down the guide due to albedo reflections or streaming. Several different materials have been proposed for this purpose. We present the results of a study of different options for collimators and identify the optimal choices that balance cost, background and activation levels.