Development and characterization of a neutron detector based on a lithium glass–polymer composite

Mayer, M.; Nattress, J.; Kukharev, V.; Foster, A. M.; Meddeb, Amira Barhoumi; Trivelpiece, Cory L.; Ounaies, Zoubeida; Jovanovic, Igor

doi:10.1016/j.nima.2015.03.014

Cited by 35 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…The detector was a larger version of the prototype design described in Ref. [17]. Neutrons incident onto the detector typically undergo thermalization in the PVT and are subsequently captured in the lithium-doped glass.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Discriminating Uranium Isotopes Using the Time-Emission Profiles of Long-Lived Delayed Neutrons

et al. 2018

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In nuclear nonproliferation and safeguards, detecting and accurately characterizing special nuclear material remains one of the greatest challenges. Uranium enrichment determination is typically achieved by measuring the ratio of characteristic γ-ray emissions from 235 U and 238 U. Fission also produces β-delayed neutrons, which have been used in the past to determine uranium enrichment from the time dependence of the long-lived delayed neutron emission rate. Such measurements typically use moderated 3 He tube detectors. We demonstrate a new measurement technique that employs a fast neutron active interrogation probe and a scintillation detector to measure the enrichment of uranium using both the buildup and decay of β-delayed neutron emission. Instead of 3 He tubes, a capture-based heterogeneous composite detector consisting of scintillating Li-glass and polyvinyl toluene has been constructed and used, offering a prospect to scale delayed neutron measurements to larger detector sizes. Since the technique relies on the existing tabulated nuclear data, no calibration standards are required. It is shown that the buildup of delayed neutron emission can be used to distinguish between uranium samples and infer the uranium enrichment level, with accuracy that rivals the method that employs the time-dependent decay of delayed neutron emission.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Discriminating Uranium Isotopes Using the Time-Emission Profiles of Long-Lived Delayed Neutrons

et al. 2018

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“…In this work, the neutron time-of-flight (TOF) was used to determine the neutron energy and, in conjunction with the capture-gated technique, the correlation between the light output of neutron thermalization pulse and the incident neutron energy was investigated. The scintillating polymer EJ-290 [6,7] and its equivalents BC-490 and NE-120 have already been used for constructing capture-gated detector prototypes and find their applications in radiation dosimetry [8] and nuclear safeguards [9]. However, the light yield nonproportionality of EJ-290 scintillator has not been measured.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A detailed description of the detector geometry optimization, prototype fabrication, and performance characterization can be found in Refs. [7,10]. The composite detector exhibits pulse shape discrimination (PSD) properties due to the different scintillation decay times of the two distinct materials used in the composite.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…The neutron capture pulses were identified through a two-dimensional criterion based on a fit of a pulse to a combination of standard pulse shape parameter (ratio of the pulse tail area to total pulse area) and the total area, as described in Ref. [7]. Only the events that lie within the 3σ region of the neutron peak area were selected as neutron capture events.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…A six-hour-long neutron shadow cone experiment was also performed using the method described in Refs. [7] and [22] to account for the contribution of the neutron room scatter. It was determined from the shadow cone measurements that ∼13% of all events that were selected by the described criteria arise from neutron arriving indirectly,…”

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Neutron spectroscopy by thermalization light yield measurement in a composite heterogeneous scintillator

Shi

Nattress

Mayer

et al. 2016

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A:

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An exothermic neutron capture reaction can be used to uniquely identify neutrons in particle detectors. With the use of a capture-gated coincidence technique, the sequence of scatter events that lead to neutron thermalization prior to the neutron capture can also be used to measure neutron energy. We report on the measurement of thermalization light yield via a time-of-flight technique in a polyvinyl toluene-based scintillator EJ-290 within a heterogeneous composite detector that also includes 6 Li-doped glass scintillator. The thermalization light output exhibits a strong correlation with neutron energy because of the preference for near-complete energy deposition prior to the 6 Li(n,t) 4 He neutron capture reaction. The nonproportionality of the light yield from nuclear recoils contributes to the observed broadening of the distribution of thermalization light output. The nonproportional dependence of the scintillation light output in the EJ-290 scintillator as a function of proton recoil energy has been characterized in the range of 0.3-14.1 MeV via the Birks parametrization through a combination of time-of-flight measurement and previously conducted measurements with monoenergetic neutron sources.

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Structured Scintillators for Efficient Radiation Detection

Lin

Yang

et al. 2021

Advanced Science

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Scintillators, which can convert high‐energy ionizing radiation into visible light, have been serving as the core component in radiation detectors for more than a century of history. To address the increasing application demands along with the concern on nuclear security, various strategies have been proposed to develop a next‐generation scintillator with a high performance in past decades, among which the novel approach via structure control has received great interest recently due to its high feasibility and efficiency. Herein, the concept of “structure engineering” is proposed for the exploration of this type of scintillators. Via internal or external structure design with size ranging from micro size to macro size, this promising strategy cannot only improve scintillator performance, typically radiation stopping power and light yield, but also extend its functionality for specific applications such as radiation imaging and therapy, opening up a new range of material candidates. The research and development of various types of structured scintillators are reviewed. The current state‐of‐the‐art progresses on structure design, fabrication techniques, and the corresponding applications are discussed. Furthermore, an outlook focusing on the current challenges and future development is proposed.

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Development and characterization of a neutron detector based on a lithium glass–polymer composite

Cited by 35 publications

References 12 publications

Discriminating Uranium Isotopes Using the Time-Emission Profiles of Long-Lived Delayed Neutrons

Discriminating Uranium Isotopes Using the Time-Emission Profiles of Long-Lived Delayed Neutrons

Neutron spectroscopy by thermalization light yield measurement in a composite heterogeneous scintillator

Structured Scintillators for Efficient Radiation Detection

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