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Felix Kratzmeier

Publications and source records attributed to Felix Kratzmeier.

2 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2025

An LNGS Mobile Neutron Detector (ALMOND): Mapping Ambient Neutron Background of Gran Sasso National Laboratory

In deep underground laboratories, environmental neutrons, which are produced at the cavern walls, introduce a source of background to rare event searches. The flux and spectrum of the ambient neutrons vary considerably with time and location. Precise knowledge of this background is necessary to devise shielding and veto mechanisms, thereby improving the sensitivity of the neutron-susceptible underground experiments. ALMOND, currently in operation, is a low-flux mobile neutron spectrometer developed for the LNGS underground laboratory to measure the ambient neutron background of the entire facility. In this paper, an overview of the design, construction and calibration of ALMOND is given. Furthermore, the result of the first underground neutron measurement is shown along with an outlook for future measurements and analyses.

physics.ins-det↗
arXiv2025

Commissioning of a mobile neutron spectrometer for LNGS

Environmental neutrons are a source of background for rare event searches in underground laboratories. Since the majority of the neutron background comes from the cavern walls due to the intrinsic radioactivity of concrete and rock, the flux is known to be time and location dependent. Therefore, a precise knowledge of the spectrum and of the total flux is needed to devise shielding and veto mechanisms for rare event searches. Here ALMOND (An LNGS Mobile Neutron Detector) is presented. It is a mobile neutron spectrometer, based on capture-gated spectroscopy and comprised of an array of plastic scintillator bars wrapped with gadolinium foils. The detector has been calibrated with Americium-Beryllium source at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and with an Americium-Boron source and a D-D generator at ENEA Frascati. The results of the neutron calibration with the time of flight method and the D-D generator are shown here, alongside the first results on capture time profile. Moreover, the first results from the neutron background run in Hall A at LNGS are presented.

physics.ins-det↗