A Fission Chamber Measurement of the ^natB(d,n) Cross Section for Use in Neutron Detector Calibration

The use of an easily reproducible neutron source reaction that produces a well-known continuous spectrum of neutrons over a range of energies is an ideal solution for some neutron detector efficiency calibrations. Fission chamber measurements of the ²⁷Al(d,n) reaction have proven valuable for detector calibration for energies between 0.2 and 14 MeV. To complement the aluminum data, measurements were made with a fission chamber at 60 deg of the neutron spectrum produced from the 7.5-MeV deuteron bombardment of a thick natural boron target. This should enable accurate and efficient calibration of neutron detectors for the energy range between 0.09 and 19.6 MeV. Tenth-order polynomial fits to the data are provided for the region with energies between 88 keV and 2.33 MeV and the region with energies between 1.76 and 19.6 MeV.