Objective A three-dimensional position-sensitive fast neutron spectrometer is designed to measure fast neutron spectrum over 10 MeV. Methods The detector consists of a 16 × 16 mutually perpendicular plastic scintillation fiber array coupled to 2 × 2 Hamamatsu H8500C position-sensitive photomultiplier tubes by optical fibers. The fiber array is fabricated with 0.5 mm × 3 mm fibers and 3-mm square fibers. Results Due to the combined application of different sizes of fibers, the detector can broaden energy dynamic range and meanwhile have good detection efficiency. The method of the combined application of different sizes of plastic fibers in the array may provide a solution to measure wider energy range of solar neutrons. Conclusion In this paper, we used FLUKA to simulate the performance of the detector model and report the results of experimental studies with neutrons from a pulsed D-T neutron.
Background Fast neutron detection is meaningful in many research fields such as space environment monitoring. A scintillating fiber array model for fast neutron detection was proposed and developed in 1980s. Aerospace applications of the model require electronics in small size. Purpose To design a dedicated electronic system to readout and process the 384-channel signals from scintillating fiber array, and to use the designed system to fabricate a neutron detector for aerospace applications. Methods With the method of nuclear recoil, fast neutron is detected by tracking recoil proton of n-p scatter in scintillating plastic fibers. Using the peak-holding circuits and multiplexers, the system size and power consumption were reduced. Results The detector fabricated with the designed system, had 34 cm×34 cm×27 cm mechanical size, 20.4 kg weight, and 30.05 W power consumption. Comparing to traditional waveform sampling electronics, the designed electronics was highly integrated and had a small size. The readout electronics also gave a better energy resolution of 39% in neutron detection, while the energy resolution was 43% in previous version. Conclusion In this study, a highly integrated readout electronic system was designed and verified. The detector using the system gave good performance. The designed electronics had potential development in fast neutron detection and other high energy physics detection system.
A fast neutron detection system based on a scintillating plastic fiber array and multiplexer was designed to measure the spectrum of fast neutrons ranged 10 MeV-100 MeV. With the method of nuclear recoil, the energy of incident neutron was determined by measuring the recoil proton track and deposited energy in scintillating plastic fibers. The detection system was composed of a scintillating plastic fiber array, 6 position sensitive photomultiplier tubes, and a high-density readout electronics based on the multiplexer. The scintillating plastic fiber array was made as a staggered structure with two kinds of fibers in different sizes (0.5 mm-square fiber and 3 mm-square fiber). The structure provided a wider detection energy range and better detection efficiency than arrays made with uniform plastic fibers. A dedicated digital electronics system was well designed to control the whole readout system to provide 384-channel signal processing. The detector had a 48 mm × 48 mm effective detection area and a mechanical size of 34 cm × 34 cm × 27 cm. In the simulation of the detector model performance, the system gave an energy resolution of 23%-35% for neutrons ranged 10 MeV-100 MeV. Experimental results showed that the detector had a good energy linearity and energy resolutions were, respectively, 35.82% at 14.817 MeV, 36.84% at 21.264 MeV, 35.90% at 23.069 MeV, and 32.90% at 24.220 MeV. The optimized prototype model had potential in increasing fast neutron detection performance.
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