Experimental investigations of single Crystal Diamond detectors for the ITER Radial Neutron Camera

ITER is an international tokamak experiment under construction in Cadarache (France) to prove the feasibility of nuclear fusion as clean source of energy. The Radial Neutron Camera (RNC) is an ITER neutron diagnostic being presently designed under Fusion for Energy (F4E) funding by an European Consortium led by ENEA. The RNC aims to the reconstruction of the radial neutron emission profiles in ITER through the measurement of uncollided 14 MeV neutrons from DeuteriumTritium (DT) reactions and 2.5 MeV neutrons from Deuterium-Deuterium (DD) reactions. It is composed by two subsystems, Ex-Port and In-Port, viewing the plasma core and plasma edge, respectively. This work focuses one of the two neutron detectors for the In-Port subsystem, namely the single Crystal Diamond (sCD). sCD detectors have been proposed, together with scintillators, also for the Ex-port subsystem. The following sCD issues have been addressed in this thesis through experiments and analysis: • neutron/gamma discrimination for 2.5 MeV measurements. • connection in parallel of several detector units • neutron radiation hardness Abstract 1 Abstract • pile-up and count rate linearity Another ancillary study has been performed on the electromagnetic compatibility tests of the system mockup, providing design constraints for the front-end electronics of the system. The results show the suitability of sCD detectors for the In-Port RNC challenging environment (high radiation levels caused by the proximity to the plasma) and provide the detectors specifications that are necessary to meet the In-Port RNC requirements.