APPLICATION OF MICROSTRIP GAS-CHAMBERS AS NEUTRON DETECTORS IN CONTROLLED THERMONUCLEAR FUSION EXPERIMENTS

The generation of fusion power in controlled thermonuclear fusion expe riments is assessed by recording the neutron emission from the plasma. The neutron diagnostic systems of present tokamaks routinely use gase ous detectors which can operate only within a limited dynamic range, f rom two up to three decades in the pulse counting mode. The MicroStrip Gas Chambers (MSGCs), due to their higher rate capability, can play a n important role as new neutron detectors with larger operational rang e (four or more decades). The application of MSGCs for the measurement of the neutron emission on the Frascati Tokamak Upgrade (FTU) is pres ented. A new method for detecting 14 MeV fusion neutrons in the next-s tep tokamak devices by means of a MSGC and a Pd converter is also disc ussed. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.