Detection systems for short-time stroboscopic neutron imaging and measurements on a rotating engine

Today's neutron sources do not deliver sufficient flux to examine singular short-time events in the millisecond range by neutron radiography. However, periodic processes can be examined if a triggered accumulating detector collects information of identical time-windows and positions over several cycles of the process. The same problem applies if the source signal itself carries information, like the energy-time dependence in the pulse of a spallation source. Several possible detection methods were considered; measurements were performed at the intense neutron beam H9 of ILL Grenoble, where an electrically driven BMW engine was examined at 1000 rpm with time resolution of 200 mu s. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.