Measurement of neutron energy spectra behind shielding of a 120 GeV/c hadron beam facility

Neutron energy spectra were measured behind the lateral shield of the CERF (CERN-EU High Energy Reference Field) facility at CERN with a 120 GeV/c positive hadron beam (mainly a mixture of protons and pions) on a cylindrical copper target (7-cm diameter×50-cm long). NE213 organic liquid scintillator (12.7-cm diameter×12.7-cm long) was located at various longitudinal positions behind shields of 80- and 160-cm thick concrete and 40-cm thick iron. Neutron energy spectra in the energy range between 12 and 380 MeV were obtained by unfolding the measured pulse height spectra with the detector response functions which have been experimentally verified in the neutron energy range up to 380 MeV in separate experiments. The corresponding MARS15 Monte Carlo simulations generally gave good agreements with the experimental energy spectra.