Design of an electron–bremsstrahlung converter for the LUE-200 linear electron accelerator using the Monte Carlo method for studying photonuclear reactions using MCNP
摘要
This paper presents the results of an optimized design of an electron–bremsstrahlung converter developed for our planned photonuclear reaction experiments using the activation method with a bremsstrahlung beam of 110 MeV end-point energy. The electron accelerator employed is the LUE-200 linear electron accelerator, the key component of the IREN facility (Intense Resonance Neutron Source) installed at the Laboratory of Neutron Physics, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna (Russian Federation). The design was carried out through Monte Carlo simulations using the MCNP-6 code and was cross-checked using the PHITS code. The main objective was to maximize the photon-to-neutron and photon-to-electron ratios at the experimental target position without significantly reducing the photon flux. The simulation results allowed us to determine the optimal configuration of the electron–bremsstrahlung converter that satisfies these requirements. This converter will be employed to generate a bremsstrahlung flux for photonuclear reaction studies at IREN.