Use of the Response Function in the Analysis of Complex Neutron Spectra

Neutron time-of-flight spectra with overlapping peaks must be unfolded to yield contributions of individual neutron groups. This requires an accurate knowledge of the resolution profile of each group. It is also desirable to know the shape of the spectra of neutrons which were scattered more than once in the scatterer, so that corrections for multiple interactions can be made. These resolution profiles and spectra shapes are not readily available. We have developed a series of measures to account for these effects in our work. We monitor the neutron target thickness during target preparation with a separate time-of-flight spectrometer; we measure detector and accelerator time resolutions for different neutron energies using a thin target and we use computer codes to simulate those factors not amenable to direct measurement.