Performance evaluation of a 71Ga(n,γ)72Ga reaction-based epithermal neutron flux detector at an AB-BNCT device

Abstract

The ⁷¹Ga(n,γ)⁷²Ga reaction-based epithermal neutron flux detectors are novel instruments developed to measure the epithermal neutron flux of boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) treatment beams. In this study, a spherical epithermal neutron flux detector using ⁷¹Ga(n,γ)⁷²Ga reaction was prototyped. The performance of the detector was experimentally evaluated at an accelerator-based BNCT (AB-BNCT) device developed by Lanzhou University, China. Based on the experimental results and related analysis, we demonstrated that the detector is a reliable tool for the quality assurance of BNCT treatment beams.

Keywords: (71)Ga(n,γ)(72)Ga reaction; AB-BNCT device; Epithermal neutron flux detector; Quality assurance.