Conceptual design of the early implementation of the NEutron Detector Array (NEDA) with AGATA

[EN] The NEutron Detector Array (NEDA) project aims at the construction of a new high-efficiency compact neutron detector array to be coupled with large gamma-ray arrays such as AGATA. The application of NEDA ranges from its use as selective neutron multiplicity filter for fusion-evaporation reaction to a large solid angle neutron tagging device. In the present work, possible configurations for the NEDA coupled with the Neutron Wall for the early implementation with AGATA has been simulated, using Monte Carlo techniques, in order to evaluate their performance figures. The goal of this early NEDA implementation is to improve, with respect to previous instruments, efficiency and capability to select multiplicity for fusion-evaporation reaction channels in which 1, 2 or 3 neutrons are emitted. Each NEDA detector unit has the shape of a regular hexagonal prism with a volume of about 3.23 l and it is filled with the EJ301 liquid scintillator, that presents good neutron-gamma discrimination properties. The simulations have been performed using a fusion-evaporation event generator that has been validated with a set of experimental data obtained in the Ni-58 + Fe-56 reaction measured with the Neutron Wall detector array. This work was partially supported by MINECO, Spain, under the grants FPA2011-29854-C04, FPA2012-33650 and FPA2014-57196-C5, and Generalitat Valenciana, Spain, under the grants PROMETEO/2010/101 and PROMETEOII/2014/019, The European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) of European Commission, the Swedish Research Council, the Polish National Science Centre under contracts: 801/N-COPIN/2010/0 (COPIN/IN2P3 collaboration), UM0-2014/14/M/ST2/00738 (COPIN-INFN collaboration), UM0-2013/08/M/ST2/0025 (LEA-COPIGAL collaboration), the Scientific and Technological Council of Turkey (Proj. no. 106T055 and 114F473), and the UK STFC (ST/L005727/1). Huyuk, T.; Di Nitto, A.; Jaworski, G.; Gadea, A.; Valiente-Dobón, JJ.; Nyberg, J.; Palacz, M... (2016). Conceptual design of the early implementation of the NEutron Detector Array (NEDA) with AGATA. The European Physical Journal A. 52(3):1-8. https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/i2016-16055-8 B. Cederwall et al., Nature 469, 68 (2011) Ö. Skeppstedt et al., Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A 421, 531 (1999) J. Ljungvall et al., Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A 528, 741 (2004) D. Sarantites et al., Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A 530, 473 (2004) F.J. Egea Canet et al., IEEE Trans. Nucl. Sci. 62, 1056 (2015) F.J. Egea Cane