Neutron News · 2006 · 24 citations · 10 references
EngineeringNuclear EngineeringNuclear PhysicsRadiation DetectionRadiation MeasurementDetector TechnologyGamma-ray DetectorsNeutron DetectionRadiation DetectorsScintillation DetectorsScintillator MaterialsDecay TimeDetectorsGlass ScintillatorsLight YieldNeutron Detector EfficiencyNeutron-gamma DiscriminationPulse Pair ResolutionScintillation Efficiency
In scintillation detectors for neutron scattering applications, the characteristics of the scintillator play a critical role in determining detector performance. There are two types of scintillator in common use; GS20:Ce glass scintillator and ZnS:Ag/6LiF scintillator [1 Spowart, A.R. 1969. Measurement of the absolute scintillation efficiency of granular and glass neutron scintillators. Nucl. Instr. and Meth., 75: 35–42. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]]. GS20 glass produces ˜6000 photons per absorbed neutron, is generally transparent to its emitted light, and has a relatively fast decay time constant of 70 ns. Therefore detectors based on GS20 scintillator can readily be made with high neutron detection efficiency and good pulse pair resolution. However, neutron/gamma discrimination and intrinsic detector background can be problematic. ZnS:Ag/6LiF produces a far higher light yield, ˜150,000 photons per neutron, but is opaque to its emitted light, and whilst the primary decay time constant of 200 ns is moderately fast, afterglow can exist for 10s of microseconds.
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