TY - JOUR
T1 - Development and characterization of a neutron detector based on a lithium glass-polymer composite
AU - Mayer, M.
AU - Nattress, J.
AU - Kukharev, V.
AU - Foster, A.
AU - Meddeb, A.
AU - Trivelpiece, C.
AU - Ounaies, Z.
AU - Jovanovic, I.
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was funded by the National Science Foundation and the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office of the Department of Homeland Security through the Academic Research Initiative Award ECCS-1348328 . The authors are grateful to Kareem Kazkaz and Grayson Rich for their comments and suggestions.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
PY - 2015/6/11
Y1 - 2015/6/11
N2 - We report on the fabrication and characterization of a neutron scintillation detector based on a Li-glass-polymer composite that utilizes a combination of pulse height and pulse shape discrimination (PSD) to achieve high gamma rejection. In contrast to fast neutron detection in a PSD medium, we combine two scintillating materials that do not possess inherent neutron/gamma PSD properties to achieve effective PSD/pulse height discrimination in a composite material. Unlike recoil-based fast neutron detection, neutron/gamma discrimination can be robust even at low neutron energies due to the high Q-value neutron capture on6Li. A cylindrical detector with a 5.05 cm diameter and 5.08 cm height was fabricated from scintillating 1 mm diameter Li-glass rods and scintillating polyvinyltoluene. The intrinsic efficiency for incident fission neutrons from252Cf and gamma rejection of the detector were measured to be 0.33% and less than 10-8, respectively. These results demonstrate the high selectivity of the detector for neutrons and provide motivation for prototyping larger detectors optimized for specific applications, such as detection and event-by-event spectrometry of neutrons produced by fission.
AB - We report on the fabrication and characterization of a neutron scintillation detector based on a Li-glass-polymer composite that utilizes a combination of pulse height and pulse shape discrimination (PSD) to achieve high gamma rejection. In contrast to fast neutron detection in a PSD medium, we combine two scintillating materials that do not possess inherent neutron/gamma PSD properties to achieve effective PSD/pulse height discrimination in a composite material. Unlike recoil-based fast neutron detection, neutron/gamma discrimination can be robust even at low neutron energies due to the high Q-value neutron capture on6Li. A cylindrical detector with a 5.05 cm diameter and 5.08 cm height was fabricated from scintillating 1 mm diameter Li-glass rods and scintillating polyvinyltoluene. The intrinsic efficiency for incident fission neutrons from252Cf and gamma rejection of the detector were measured to be 0.33% and less than 10-8, respectively. These results demonstrate the high selectivity of the detector for neutrons and provide motivation for prototyping larger detectors optimized for specific applications, such as detection and event-by-event spectrometry of neutrons produced by fission.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.nima.2015.03.014
DO - 10.1016/j.nima.2015.03.014
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84925445512
SN - 0168-9002
VL - 785
SP - 117
EP - 122
JO - Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
JF - Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
ER -