Bubble Dynamics within a Bubble Detector, When Exposed to Neutron Dose

Bubble detectors are a well-known and convenient technology for measuring neutron dose. These detectors comprise of glass tube, filled with flouro-carbon material in which bubbles are created with proportion to the absorbed neutron dose. However, some major issues arise when one needs to analyze the neutron dose, based on the bubbles which are created by exposure to unknown neutron flux. For example, are the non-uniform bubble sizes proportional to the amount of neutrons which contributed energy to create each bubble? Is it a good practice to give an even weight to each bubble, when counting them for a dose calculation? What is an efficient practice for counting a tube with plenty bubbles?

We developed a portable system for counting bubbles in a wide range of bubble-loads, and used it to explore some characteristics of bubble development over time, due to exposure to a known gouging source. The system and some results of our experiments will be presented and discussed.