Computational studies of neutron response function for a neutron spectrometer which uses Freon-12, -22, and -115 superheated liquids

Abstract A Fortran code based on Seitz's radiation-induced nucleation theory is written to study the characteristics of the energy-dependent neutron response function of thermal- and intermediate-energy neutron superheated-drop detectors (SDDs). Three SDD liquids are studied: Freon-12, -22, and -115. The characteristic curves are akin to those of a threshold detector. The program is run for an incident neutron energy range of 0.0253 eV–4.1 MeV at various temperatures (15–40°C) and pressures (0–5 atm) to produce a set of response function curves which enables the stripping of the neutron spectrum.