Characterisation of the neutron beam in the n_TOF-EAR2 experimental area at CERN following the spallation target upgrade
Abstract The n_TOF facility at CERN has undergone a major upgrade after the installation of a new spallation target, designed to improve the performance of both neutron beamlines at the experimental areas 1 and 2 (EAR1 and EAR2) and the commissioning of a new experimental area (NEAR). Due to improved coupling of the spallation target with the EAR2 beamline, the upgrade resulted in a significantly increased neutron flux and improved neutron energy resolution. This paper presents the results of the commissioning phase that followed to characterise the EAR2 neutron beamline and validate the FLUKA Monte Carlo simulations of the facility. The main characteristics of the neutron beam, namely the neutron flux, spatial profile and energy resolution, are evaluated and compared to the previous target. The neutron flux presents a general increase of 20% below 1 eV, 40% between 1 eV and 100 keV and 50% between 100 keV and 10 MeV. The measured width of the beam profile was 3 cm full width at half maximum (FWHM) at the reference position for neutron capture measurements. The energy resolution with the new spallation target shows a significant improvement compared to the previous one. Moreover, FLUKA Monte Carlo simulations present a good agreement with the measured neutron flux and profile within uncertainties, and a remarkable reproduction of the energy resolution.
Authors
- C. Guerrero (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2111-546X)
- A. P. Bernardes (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4081-2567)
- A. Mengoni
- M. G. Pellegriti (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9971-3059)
- G. Gervino (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4398-6960)
- A. Casanovas
- S. Valenta
- C. Gustavino (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3232-7027)
- F. Calviño (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7198-4639)
- M. E. Stamati (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3566-8129)
- J. Perkowski (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9142-329X)
- V. Babiano-Suárez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2717-2123)
- Jose Antonio Pavon Rodriguez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9501-2570)
- F. Romano
- D. Bosnar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4784-393X)
- M. Busso (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8944-5820)
- P. Colombetti (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9944-1265)
- P. Pérez-Maroto (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4034-5495)
- A. Massara (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2160-1126)
- C. Le Naour (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1009-6742)
- S. Cristallo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9683-9406)
- J. Lerendegui-Marco
- E. A. Maugeri
- E. Chiaveri
- F. Matteucci
- M. Calviani (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8213-8358)
- S. Goula
- P. Mastinu
- R. Reifarth (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3855-5816)
- G. Cortés (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3648-5826)
- I. Porras (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0754-8717)
- T. Katabuchi
- Y. Romanets (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4337-8519)
- B. Fernández–Domínguez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7859-2438)
- S. Fiore (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9933-3961)
- Giuseppe Lerner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0976-4993)
- D. Tarrío (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9858-3341)
- C. Lederer-Woods
- R. Zarrella (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8834-8041)
- R. Dressler
- N. Patronis
- M. Barbagallo
- Nicoletta Protti (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2415-128X)
- I. Knapová (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4771-0328)
- P. Finocchiaro (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7502-2229)
- A. Mazzone (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0228-5663)
- V. Alcayne
- L Cosentino
- A. Junghans
- N. V. Sosnin
- M. Dietz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3340-5288)
- F. García-Infantes (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9388-5586)
- D. M. Castelluccio
- L. Piersanti
- S. Altieri (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1376-3686)
- M. Sabaté-Gilarte (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1026-3210)
- A. Tarifeño-Saldivia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8552-5030)
- P. Console Camprini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4242-1319)
- S. Fargier
- J. Andrzejewski
- M. Caamaño (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5045-003X)
- A. Wallner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2804-3670)
- J. Praena (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1388-5859)
- D. Vescovi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0309-4666)
- M. Kokkoris (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3972-5143)
- M. Krtička (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0083-8327)
- P. Torres-Sánchez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0608-5351)
- R. Mucciola (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1605-7311)
- C. Rubbia
- Mario Di Castro (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2513-967X)
- D. Cano‐Ott (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9568-7508)
- F. Murtas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7041-6541)
- D. Schumann
- Yu. N. Kopatch (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1688-6996)
- Domenico Diacono (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8060-5805)
- P. Žugec (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6933-3100)
- A. Masi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9237-3140)
- C. Domingo-Pardo
- E. Jericha (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8663-0526)
- I. Ladarescu
- G. Cescutti (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3184-9918)
- S. Pomp (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1990-5083)
- P. Schillebeeckx
- T. Rauscher (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1266-0642)
- I. Durán (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7396-5407)
- M. Mastromarco
- V. Michalopoulou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-1548-2423)
- P. Vaz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7186-2359)
- Nicholas Terranova (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4241-6528)
- S. Chasapoglou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8647-3594)
- M. Spelta
- E. Berthoumieux
- S. Amaducci (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4294-7510)
- J. Heyse
- D. Rochman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5089-7034)
- H. Amar Es-Sghir
- A. Manna (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8811-8334)
- E. Dupont (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-2770-7001)
- E. González-Romero (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2376-8920)
- Vincenzo Variale
- T. Martínez
- E. Pirovano
- A. Sekhar
- F. Gunsing
- S. Urlass
- A. Oprea
- F. Cerutti
- Y. Kadi
- D. Kurtulgil
- J. Balibrea
- N. Colonna
- O. Aberle
- A. Gawlik-Ramięga
- S. Gilardoni
- V. Furman
- E. Musacchio-Gonzalez
- D. G. Jenkins
- J. M. Quesada
- A. Negreţ (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1285-704X)
- M. A. Cortés‐Giraldo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3646-1015)
- M. Bacak
- P. M. Milazzo
- C. Massimi
- L. Tassan-Got
- G. Tagliente (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-3749-3019)
- T. Wright
- M. Diakaki
- E. Mendoza
- Z. Eleme
- S. Bennett
- P. J. Woods
- C. Petrone
- A. Musumarra
- A. G. Smith
- R. Vlastou
- V. Vlachoudis
Institutions
- Université Paris-Sud (FR)
- National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (IT)
- Goethe University Frankfurt (DE)
- Tokyo Institute of Technology (JP)
- Australian National University (AU)
- Uppsala University (SE)
- Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (DE)
- Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (GB)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- University of Trieste (IT)
- TU Wien (AT)
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (IT)
- Universitat de València (ES)
- Universidad de Granada (ES)
- National Technical University of Athens (GR)
- University of Zagreb (HR)
- University of Basel (CH)
- University of Ioannina (GR)
- Universidade de Santiago de Compostela (ES)
- Charles University (CZ)
- University of Pavia (IT)
- Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives (FR)
- University of Perugia (IT)
- Université Paris-Saclay (FR)
- European Commission (BE)
- Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (DE)
- Paul Scherrer Institute (CH)
- University of Manchester (GB)
- University of Łódź (PL)
- University of Catania (IT)
- Osservatorio astronomico di Bologna (IT)
- Horia Hulubei National Institute for R and D in Physics and Nuclear Engineering (RO)
- Institut de Physique (FR)
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Torino (IT)
- Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology (AT)
- Instituto de Física Corpuscular (ES)
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Pavia (IT)
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Bari (IT)
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Catania (IT)
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Laboratori Nazionali del Sud (IT)
- Collurania Teramo Observatory (IT)
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro (IT)
- CEA Paris-Saclay (FR)
- Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules (FR)
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati (IT)
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Bologna (IT)
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Trieste (IT)
- Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Perugia (IT)
- Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (ES)
- Instituto Superior Técnico (PT)
- University of York (GB)
- University of Turin (IT)
- University of Bari Aldo Moro (IT)
- European Organization for Nuclear Research (CH)
- Universidad de Sevilla (ES)
- National Institute for Astrophysics (IT)
- University of Bologna (IT)
- Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (ES)
- University of Edinburgh (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- The European Physical Journal A
- Published
- 2025-12-08
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/s10050-025-01727-x
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Nuclear reactor physics and engineering
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 4.99
Funders
- Generalitat Valenciana
- European Regional Development Fund
- Agencia Estatal de Investigación