Biological application of Doppler broadening of neutron-induced prompt gamma-ray from energetic 7*Li

By probing Doppler broadened line-shapes of prompt γ -ray at 478 keV emitted from moving 7*Li produced via the 10B(n, γ)7*Li reaction, matrix materials containing and/or surrounding boron species were non-destructively characterized for several growing stages of soybean. It was elucidated that boron is in the form close to each other for both the dry seeds for planting and the dry seeds harvested, while it was revealed that boron exists in an aqueous solution for the two stages of growing, swelling seeds with a bourgeon and a greenish sprout. This work is the first biological application of Doppler broadening of neutron induced prompt γ -rays.