Gamma Spectroscopy of Nanometer Layers of Gadolinium in the Mode of Resonantly Enhanced Standing Neutron Waves

• Published in: Physics of particles and nuclei letters Vol. 21; no. 5; pp. 1065 - 1068
• Main Authors: Khaydukov, Yu. N., Zhaketov, V. D., Korolkov, D. S., Proglyado, V. V., Milyaev, M. A., Kravtsov, E. A., Lider, A. M., Nikitenko, Yu. V., Aksenov, V. L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Moscow Pleiades Publishing 2024; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Gadolinium; Gamma spectroscopy; Heterostructures; Metal films; Niobium; Particle and Nuclear Physics; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Physics of Solid State and Condensed Matter; Sapphire; Standing waves; Substrates; Tantalum; Thin films; Waveguides; neutron standing waves; gamma spectrometry; resonant amplification; neutron reflectometry; gadolinium
• ISSN: 1547-4771; 1531-8567
• DOI: 10.1134/S1547477124701590

We have shown the feasibility of detecting gamma quanta in a neutron experiment in the mode of resonantly enhanced standing waves (RESW) from a 1 nm thick gadolinium film placed in a resonator structure consisting of a 50 nm niobium layer on a sapphire substrate and coated with a 10 nm tantalum-copper film alloy. The mass of gadolinium used in the experiment was 2 μg, which is 25 times less than that in the experiment by H. Zhang et al. (H. Zhang et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 72 , 3044 (1994)). Quantitative calculations show that the experimental conditions make it possible to detect a gamma signal at waveguide resonance from a gadolinium sample weighing 40 nanograms. Thus, RESW gamma spectrometry is a powerful method for characterizing heterostructures with ultrathin gadolinium layers. In particular, it can be used to study the kinetics of interaction of hydrogen with nanometer films in which a thin layer of gadolinium is used as a label layer.