Spectrum of a neutron source based on a solid tritium target

The spectra of neutrons produced by bombarding a tritium-titanium-molybdenu m target with 4-9-MeV protons were measured by the time-of-flight technique at various angles. Apart from the neutrons from the T(p, n) reaction, low- energy neutrons were detected, which equaled from 4 to 3000% of the monoene rgetic neutrons. Theoretical analysis showed that emission of these low-ene rgy neutrons could be caused by neutron scattering from the structural mate rials of the target. assembly or by the (p, n) reaction on titanium and mol ybdenum. In addition, when traveling towards the detector, neutrons from th e T(p, n) reaction were inelastically scattered by the collimator walls in the detector: shielding. Computations by the Monte Carlo and Hauser-Feschba ch codes quantitatively reproduced the measured spectra. The approach teste d can be used for other neutron-production reactions and for other target a ssemblies to estimate the contribution of nonmonoenergetic neutrons.