Measurement and unfolding of neutron spectra using Bonner spheres

Neutron spectra from Am–Be, 252Cf sources and 2H + 2H and 2H + 3H reactions have been measured using a Bonner sphere system in conjunction with a 4 × 4 mm2 LiI(Eu) detector, and unfolded using the two codes BUNKI and MAXED. The BON unfolding algorithm is used with BUNKI. It has been observed that end test percentage between 1 and 3 and smoothing factor between 0.05 and 0.1 are optimal choices for the BUNKI code. A temperature parameter 1.0 is used for MAXED. Comparison with standard spectra shows that the shape of the spectra is fairly well reproduced. A coupling between the two codes is made and the solution spectrum from BUNKI is used as the default spectrum in MAXED.