ABSTRACT Title of dissertation: MEASUREMENT OF THE SURFACE AND UNDERGROUND FAST NEUTRON SPECTRA WITH THE UMD/NIST FAST NEUTRON SPECTROMETERS

The typical fast neutron detector falls into one of two categories, Bonner sphere spectrometers and liquid scintillator proton recoil detectors. These two detector types have traditionally been used to measure fast neutrons at the surface and in low background environments. The cosmogenic neutron spectrum and flux is an important parameter for a number of experimental efforts, including procurement of low background materials and the prediction of electronic device faults. Fast neutrons can also cause problems for underground low-background experiments, through material activation or signals that mimic rare events. Current detector technology is not sufficient to properly characterize these backgrounds. To this end, the University of Maryland and the National Institute of Stan-dards and Technology designed, developed, and deployed two Fast Neutron Spec-trometers (FaNS) comprised of plastic scintillator and 3He proportional counters. The detectors are based upon capture-gated spectroscopy, a technique that demands a delayed coincidence between a neutron scatter and the resulting neutron cap-ture after thermalization. This technique provides both particle identification an