Growing solid deuterium for UCN production

Ekaterina Korobkina; Igor Berkutov; Robert Golub; Paul Huffman; Clark Hickman; Kent Leung; Graham Medlin; Matthew J. Morano; Thomas Rao; Cole Teander; Christian White; Albert R. Young

doi:10.3233/JNR-220010

Growing solid deuterium for UCN production

Ekaterina Korobkina, Igor Berkutov, Robert Golub, Paul Huffman, Clark Hickman, Kent Leung, Graham Medlin, Matthew J. Morano, Thomas Rao, Cole Teander, Christian White, Albert R. Young

Montclair State University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

We have experimentally studied growing a large (about 1 liter) ortho-deuterium crystal in a real UCN source cryostat and recorded the growing process optically using a camera. The best quality was observed when growing the crystal directly from a vapor phase. The crystal was grown at different mass flows of deuterium and annealed at different temperatures. Optimum conditions were found for both, obtaining an optically transparent crystal and cooling it down with minimal damage. We found that the quality, final shape and changes during annealing of the crystal are very much dependent on the temperature profile of the cryostat walls.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	179-191
Number of pages	13
Journal	Journal of Neutron Research
Volume	24
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3233/JNR-220010
State	Published - 2022

Keywords

Solid deuterium
ultra-cold neutrons

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10.3233/JNR-220010

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title = "Growing solid deuterium for UCN production",

abstract = "We have experimentally studied growing a large (about 1 liter) ortho-deuterium crystal in a real UCN source cryostat and recorded the growing process optically using a camera. The best quality was observed when growing the crystal directly from a vapor phase. The crystal was grown at different mass flows of deuterium and annealed at different temperatures. Optimum conditions were found for both, obtaining an optically transparent crystal and cooling it down with minimal damage. We found that the quality, final shape and changes during annealing of the crystal are very much dependent on the temperature profile of the cryostat walls.",

keywords = "Solid deuterium, ultra-cold neutrons",

author = "Ekaterina Korobkina and Igor Berkutov and Robert Golub and Paul Huffman and Clark Hickman and Kent Leung and Graham Medlin and Morano, {Matthew J.} and Thomas Rao and Cole Teander and Christian White and Young, {Albert R.}",

note = "Funding Information: The authors are grateful to the staff of the PULSTAR reactor, especially A. Cook, for the technical support. This work was supported in part by the US Department of Energy under grant number DE-FG02-97ER41042. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 - The authors. Published by IOS Press.",

year = "2022",

doi = "10.3233/JNR-220010",

language = "English",

volume = "24",

pages = "179--191",

journal = "Journal of Neutron Research",

issn = "1023-8166",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Growing solid deuterium for UCN production

AU - Korobkina, Ekaterina

AU - Berkutov, Igor

AU - Golub, Robert

AU - Huffman, Paul

AU - Hickman, Clark

AU - Leung, Kent

AU - Medlin, Graham

AU - Morano, Matthew J.

AU - Rao, Thomas

AU - Teander, Cole

AU - White, Christian

AU - Young, Albert R.

N1 - Funding Information: The authors are grateful to the staff of the PULSTAR reactor, especially A. Cook, for the technical support. This work was supported in part by the US Department of Energy under grant number DE-FG02-97ER41042. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 - The authors. Published by IOS Press.

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - We have experimentally studied growing a large (about 1 liter) ortho-deuterium crystal in a real UCN source cryostat and recorded the growing process optically using a camera. The best quality was observed when growing the crystal directly from a vapor phase. The crystal was grown at different mass flows of deuterium and annealed at different temperatures. Optimum conditions were found for both, obtaining an optically transparent crystal and cooling it down with minimal damage. We found that the quality, final shape and changes during annealing of the crystal are very much dependent on the temperature profile of the cryostat walls.

AB - We have experimentally studied growing a large (about 1 liter) ortho-deuterium crystal in a real UCN source cryostat and recorded the growing process optically using a camera. The best quality was observed when growing the crystal directly from a vapor phase. The crystal was grown at different mass flows of deuterium and annealed at different temperatures. Optimum conditions were found for both, obtaining an optically transparent crystal and cooling it down with minimal damage. We found that the quality, final shape and changes during annealing of the crystal are very much dependent on the temperature profile of the cryostat walls.

KW - Solid deuterium

KW - ultra-cold neutrons

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85147958560&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3233/JNR-220010

DO - 10.3233/JNR-220010

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85147958560

SN - 1023-8166

VL - 24

SP - 179

EP - 191

JO - Journal of Neutron Research

JF - Journal of Neutron Research

IS - 2

ER -

Growing solid deuterium for UCN production

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Keywords

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