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I am looking for raw data of the (normalized) neutron flux of a $^{241}$Am-$^9$Be-source, or in other words, the data of this graph. Where can I find that? Apparently, there has to be an ISO standard.

I know that NIST and NNDC publish a lot of data similar to this, but I couldn't find anything on their pages.

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  • $\begingroup$ Do you mean ISO 8529, Reference neutron radiations — Part 1: Characteristics and methods of production? $\endgroup$
    – Jon Custer
    Commented Dec 6, 2017 at 17:44
  • $\begingroup$ yes - I can only find textbooks with paywall $\endgroup$
    – Christian
    Commented Dec 6, 2017 at 17:52
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    $\begingroup$ Welcome to ISO standards (sigh). You may be able to access through a good engineering library (or radiation physics), or through interlibrary loan. $\endgroup$
    – Jon Custer
    Commented Dec 6, 2017 at 17:53

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In addition to the ISO standard (which will be expected in industry and many government contexts), there are the evaluated nuclear data files (of which there are actually several sets as several countries maintain their own), if you are willing to accept data that has already been processed and harmonized by experts.1

The format of the files is a bit painful by modern standard, but if you have processed a lot of data in Fortran 77, you'll be right at home.

1 As opposed to the raw data from individual experiments each with their own systematic and methodological issues. I strongly recommend accepting the processed data. Just once I decided that the data I wanted was obscure and may not have been considered important by the ENDF maintainers and went back to the original sources myself. Waste of three weeks work: my results agreed quite closely with the official results.

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  • $\begingroup$ Yes, this would be totally fine for me, in fact I only need a rough estimate. However, I cannot find the $^{241}$Am-$^9$-Be reaction. What do I have to type in? $\endgroup$
    – Christian
    Commented Dec 6, 2017 at 20:06
  • $\begingroup$ The ENDFs are pretty raw, and they may not have exactly the data you are looking for but just the inputs to the problem. You may have to fold the $^9\mathrm{Be}(\alpha,n)$ production data with the Am-241 alpha energy spectrum. You may even have to write a Monte Carlo for the energy loss of the alphas. I was doing Po-210 alphas on C-13 and had to write a full MC, but Am/Be is much more common. $\endgroup$
    – dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten
    Commented Dec 6, 2017 at 20:23
  • $\begingroup$ That said, try Target: Be-9 Reaction: He4/n' Quantity: sig. $\endgroup$
    – dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten
    Commented Dec 6, 2017 at 20:24

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