Production and characterization of a custom-made 228Th source with reduced neutron source strength for the Borexino experiment

Abstract

A custom-made 228Th source of several MBq activities was produced for the Borexino experiment to study the external background of the detector. The aim was to reduce the unwanted neutron emission produced via (α,n) reactions in ceramics typically used for commercial 228Th sources. For this purpose a ThCl4 solution was chemically converted into ThO2 and embedded in a gold foil.

The paper describes the production of the custom-made source and its characterization by means of γ-activity, dose rate and neutron source strength measurements. From γ-spectroscopic measurements it was deduced that activity transfer from the initial solution to the final source was >91% (at 68% C.L.) and the final activity was (5.41±0.30) MBq. The dose rate was measured with two dosimeters yielding 12.1 mSv/h and 14.3 mSv/h in 1 cm distance. The neutron source strength of the 5.41 MBq 228Th source was determined to be (6.59±0.85) s−1.