Identifying thermal neutrons, fast neutrons, and gamma rays by using a scintillator-based time-of-flight method

Sun, Y.; Zhang, H.; Zhao, Xiaokun; Shao, M.; Tang, Z.; Li, C.

doi:10.1016/j.nima.2019.06.027

Cited by 10 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Their results are approximately 4% higher than the neutron-capture light yield measured in this work. While measurements on commercially available liquids, such as EJ-309B5, show a similar capture-feature light yield to that obtained in [39], [41], a lower relative light yield is reported for BC-523, BC-523A2, and EJ-339A-possibly indicative of higher ionization density and/or oxygen quenching in these materials [9].…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 60%

“…Table I presents a comparison of the neutron-capture light yield for commercially available boron-loaded organic scintillators. The measurement presented here, along with those from Sun et al [39] and Miller et al [42], used a coincident tagging setup, whereby 477.6 keV of the energy released in the nuclear reaction is lost to the deexcitation γ ray. All other datasets include neutron-capture events directly populating the ground state of 7 Li (with a 6% thermal branching ratio), leading to higher energy recoiling charged particles.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The measurements in Sun et al [39] and Normand et al [41] used an 241 Am source for calibration and obtained a higher light output for the neutron capture feature. These discrepancies are likely due to the lack of proper treatment of electron light nonproportionality in the calibration procedures.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…7) was applied to isolate these events in post-processing. As described by Sun et al [39], there is a significant contribution to the overall counts produced by γ rays scattering first off an observation detector and then back into the target, visible in coincident TOF space as a smaller peak earlier in time (at ∼9 ns). The broad feature (from 35 ns to 60 ns) corresponds to neutron scattering events in the target and observation detectors.…”

Section: B Data Analysis and Calibrationmentioning

confidence: 85%

“…The identification of neutron-capture events was accomplished using a method adapted from Sun et al [39]. The 5.08 cm dia.…”

Section: A Experimental Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Neutron Response of the EJ-254 Boron-Loaded Plastic Scintillator

Gabella,

Goldblum,

Laplace

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Organic scintillators doped with capture agents provide a detectable signal for neutrons over a broad energy range. This work characterizes the fast and slow neutron response of EJ-254, an organic plastic scintillator with 5% natural boron loading by weight. For fast neutrons, the primary mechanism for light generation in organic scintillators is n-p elastic scattering.To study the fast neutron response, the proton light yield of EJ-254 was measured at the 88-Inch Cyclotron at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Using a broad-spectrum neutron source and a double time-of-flight technique, the EJ-254 proton light yield was obtained over the energy range of approximately 270 keV to 4.5 MeV and determined to be in agreement with other plastic scintillators comprised of the same polymer base. To isolate the slow neutron response, an AmBe source with polyethylene moderator was made incident on the EJ-254 scintillator surrounded by an array of EJ-309 observation detectors. Events in the EJ-254 target coincident with the signature 477.6 keV γ ray (resulting from deexcitation of the residual 7 Li nucleus following boron neutron capture) were identified. Pulse shape discrimination was used to evaluate the temporal differences in the response of EJ-254 scintillation signals arising from γ-ray and fast/slow neutron interactions. Clear separation between γ-ray and fast neutrons signals was not achieved and the neutron capture feature was observed to overlap both the γ-ray and fast neutron bands. Taking into account the electron light nonproportionality, the neutron-capture light yield in EJ-254 was determined to be 89.4±1.1 keVee.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 60%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%