EXPERIMENTAL EVALUATION OF NEUTRON SHIELDING MATERIALS
A new proposed design of neutron shielding material-based on the commercial material Borotron UH050 with an addition of Al(OH)3-is evaluated in order to determine if its neutron and gamma shielding properties match those of a reference material, NS4FR. Neutron and gamma dosimetry measurements are performed, as well as neutron spectrometry measurements and Monte Carlo simulations. Negligible differences are found between the materials for neutron shielding, while significant differences are found for gamma shielding. The effect of Al(OH)3 addition to Borotron UH050 is to reduce neutron shielding properties while increasing gamma shielding properties. The resulting material is as efficient as NS4FR for neutron shielding but less efficient for gamma shielding-thicknesses 20% higher are required to match gamma shielding properties of NS4FR. Monte Carlo models of the materials are validated based on the performed measurements of neutron spectra and neutron and gamma ambient dose equivalent.
Contribution of the scattered radiation on the neutron beam fluence at the calibration laboratory of IPEN
Abstract In recent years, an upsurge in demand for neutron calibrations has been experienced in Brazil and several other countries in Latin America, mainly due to the increase in oil prospection and extraction procedures. The only laboratory for calibration of neutron detectors in Brazil is located at the Institute for Radioprotection and Dosimetry (IRD/CNEN), Rio de Janeiro. This laboratory is the national standard dosimetry laboratory in Brazil. With the increase in the demand for the calibration of neutron detectors, the need for more calibration services became evident. In this context, the Calibration Laboratory of IPEN/CNEN, Sao Paulo, which already offers calibration services of radiation detectors with standard X, gamma, beta and alpha beams, recently projected a new calibration laboratory for neutron detectors. One of the main problems in this kind of calibration laboratory is related to the knowledge of scattered radiation. In order to evaluate it, simulations were performed without the presence of the structural elements and with the complete room. Thirteen measurement points were evaluated at various distances. As part of the characterization process of the radiation fields of the new Neutron Calibration Laboratory, this work presents results on the influence of the radiation scattered by the structural components of the room: walls, doors, ceiling and floor, in different calibration positions, on the detector response. Therefore, the neutron radiation attenuation and the scattering parameters were determined at different source-detector distances, through computational simulation, using the MCNP5 Monte Carlo code.
Third order nonlinear distortion of SAW duplexers in UMTS system
Nonlinearity distortion characterization and accurate modeling techniques for leaky surface acoustic wave (LSAW) devices have been desired in the recently years due to the applications of the Radio Frequency (RF) SAW duplexers in the third-generation (3G) telecommunication system, such as Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). In the work, we first discuss the approaches to measure and characterize the 3rd order harmonic generation of the resonators on lithium tantalate YXl42° wafer and YXl48° wafer, with resonance frequency of 800MHz to 900 MHz; Second, we present an effective nonlinear Butterworth-van-Dyke (BVD) model to simulate the multi-tone 3rd order intermodulation effects of a band 5 duplexer; simulation result vs. measurement of 3rd order harmonic generation, 3rd order intermodulation (IMD3) and triple beat are presented.