Workshop on Neutron Detector Technology, Indiana University Cyclotron Facility; Bloomington, IN; May 29-30, 2003

对改进的中子探测器的需求是迫切的。 电流探测器在大约1%的通量处饱和，该通量将在诸如散斑中子源（SNS）的设施中提供。 幸运的是，改进的途径似乎很简单，问题似乎很好理解，解决方案（大多数）是当前技术的逻辑扩展。该项目是一个研讨会，旨在帮助解决新一代中子探测器的需求。 它将开始在美国建立一个合作，重点是开发新的中子探测器，并为未来的中子探测器研究制定“路线图”。 研讨会将包括来自欧洲和日本的科学家的演讲，这些科学家目前在这一领域领先于美国。 讲习班将向参加者提供编写为中子探测器开发寻求资金的提案所需的信息。 研讨会还将建立一个国家协调委员会，以帮助衡量美国在中子探测器技术方面的进展。“中子使科学家能够研究使用其他类型的辐射（如X射线）无法获得的材料和生物物质。 特别是，它们是原子和分子的结构和动力学的敏感探针。 因此，它们现在不仅在物理学、化学和材料科学中，而且在生物学、地球科学和工程学中得到了广泛的应用。 中子束对于此类研究的有用性取决于在中子与样本相互作用后检测它们的能力。 目前的探测器严重限制了可以进行的研究的性质和类型，因此需要新一代的中子探测器。 这次讲习班将有助于开始一个加强美国中子探测器技术的进程，使美国重新回到这一领域的世界领导者行列。

The need for improved neutron detectors is compelling. Current detectors saturate at about 1% of the flux that will be made available at facilities such as the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS). Fortunately, the path to improvement appears to be straightforward, the problems seem well understood, and the solutions are (mostly) logical extensions of current technology. This project is a workshop intended to help address the need for a new generation of neutron detectors. It will begin to build a collaboration within the U.S. that is focused on the development of new neutron detectors and to develop a "roadmap" for future neutron-detector research. The workshop will include presentations by scientists from Europe and Japan, which are currently ahead of the U.S. in this area. The workshop will provide the participants with the information needed to prepare proposals seeking funding for neutron-detector development. The workshop will also establish a national coordinating committee to help measure U.S. progress in neutron-detector technology against the "roadmap." Neutrons allow scientists to study aspects of materials and biological substances that are not accessible using other types of radiation, such as X-rays. In particular, they are sensitive probes of the structure and dynamics of atoms and molecules. For this reason, they have now become widely used, not only in physics, chemistry, and materials science, but also in biology, earth science, and engineering. The usefulness of neutron beams for such research depends upon the ability to detect the neutrons after they have interacted with a sample. Current detectors severely limit the nature and type of research that can be carried out, so that a new generation of neutron detectors is needed. This workshop will help to begin a process to strengthen neutron-detector technology in the United States, bringing this nation back into the ranks of world leaders in this area.