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Title: Study of the filter method for neutron pulse-height distributions measured with organic scintillators

Journal Article · · Radiation Measurements
ORCiD logo [1];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [1];  [1]
  1. Univ. of Tuzla (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
  2. Univ. of Belgrade (Serbia)
  3. Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
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Identification of neutron sources is of interest in several fields, such as homeland security or basic nu-clear physics. Organic scintillators offer the possibility to unfold fast-neutron energy spectra. Since organic scintillators are sensitive to neutrons and gamma-rays, a method to discriminate these two types of particles is required. This paper is focused on investigation of the discrimination properties of the filter method by using a new procedure. We compare the results of an experimental filter method to a digital pulse-shape discrimination (PSD) method based on charge integration. In addition, these methods are compared to the simulation results obtained with the MCNPX-PoliMi code. The experimental and nu-merical investigations were performed with a 252Cf spontaneous-fission neutron source. The integration of the number of counts gave the relative differences between the experimental filter and digital PSD neutron pulse-height distributions (PHDs) and simulated PHDs less than approximately 5% in the range between 60 keVee and 1.715 MeVee of light output. Above 1.715 MeVee, the PSD method has advantages over the filter method, due to the filter method having significantly worse counting statistics. The results show that the filter method has potential for robust neutron measurements when the PSD method cannot be applied, such as for ‘old’ organic plastic scintillators without PSD capability.

Research Organization:
Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Office of Nonproliferation and Verification Research and Development (NA-22)
Grant/Contract Number:
NA0002534
OSTI ID:
1366591
Journal Information:
Radiation Measurements, Vol. 86, Issue C; ISSN 1350-4487
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (8)

Digital pulse shape discrimination in organic scintillators for fusion applications
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journal February 2004
Identification of shielded neutron sources with the liquid scintillator BC-501A using a digital pulse shape discrimination method
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journal July 2007
Shielding around spallation neutron sources. journal May 2006
Neutron and photon spectrometry with liquid scintillation detectors in mixed fields journal January 2002
Physical description of nuclear materials identification system (NMIS) signatures
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journal August 2000
MCNPX-PoliMi for nuclear nonproliferation applications
  • Pozzi, S. A.; Clarke, S. D.; Walsh, W. J.
  • Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 694 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2012.07.040
journal December 2012
Pulse shape discrimination in the plastic scintillator EJ-299-33
  • Pozzi, S. A.; Bourne, M. M.; Clarke, S. D.
  • Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 723 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2013.04.085
journal September 2013
Plastic scintillators with efficient neutron/gamma pulse shape discrimination
  • Zaitseva, Natalia; Rupert, Benjamin L.; PaweŁczak, Iwona
  • Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 668, p. 88-93 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2011.11.071
journal March 2012

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Related Subjects

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
Neutron sources
Organic scintillators Filter method
PSD method
MCNPX-PoliMi simulations