Bismuth- and lithium-loaded plastic scintillators for gamma and neutron detection

Cherepy, Nerine J.; Sanner, Robert D.; Beck, Patrick R.; Swanberg, Erik L.; Tillotson, Thomas M.; Payne, Stephen A.; Hurlbut, Charles R.

doi:10.1016/j.nima.2015.01.008

Bismuth- and lithium-loaded plastic scintillators for gamma and neutron detection

Journal Article · Fri Jan 09 00:00:00 EST 2015 · Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section A, Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2015.01.008· OSTI ID:1438692

Cherepy, Nerine J. ^[1]; Sanner, Robert D. ^[1]; Beck, Patrick R. ^[1]; Swanberg, Erik L. ^[1]; Tillotson, Thomas M. ^[1]; Payne, Stephen A. ^[1]; Hurlbut, Charles R. ^[2]

Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Eljen Technology, Sweetwater, TX (United States)

In this paper, transparent plastic scintillators based on polyvinyltoluene (PVT) have been fabricated with high loading of bismuth carboxylates for gamma spectroscopy, and with lithium carboxylates for neutron detection. When activated with a combination of standard fluors, 2,5-diphenyloxazole (PPO) and tetraphenylbutadiene (TPB), gamma light yields with 15 wt% bismuth tripivalate of 5000 Ph/MeV are measured. A PVT plastic formulation including 30 wt% lithium pivalate and 30 wt% PPO offers both pulse shape discrimination, and a neutron capture peak at ~400 keVee. Finally, in another configuration, a bismuth-loaded PVT plastic is coated with ZnS(⁶Li) paint, permitting simultaneous gamma and neutron detection via pulse shape discrimination with a figure-of-merit of 3.8, while offering gamma spectroscopy with energy resolution of R(662 keV)=15%.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation (NA-20)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC03-76SF00098; AC52-07NA27344

OSTI ID:: 1438692

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 22457802
OSTI ID: 1245661

Report Number(s):: LLNL-JRNL--663264

Journal Information:: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section A, Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Journal Name: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section A, Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment Vol. 778; ISSN 0168-9002

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Pseudo-gamma Spectrometry in Plastic Scintillators Hamel, Matthieu; Carrel, Frédérick New Insights on Gamma Rays https://doi.org/10.5772/67134	book	May 2017
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Evaluation of polyvinyl toluene scintillators for fast neutron imaging Chuirazzi, William C.; Oksuz, Ibrahim; Kandlakunta, Praneeth Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, Vol. 318, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-018-6080-1	journal	August 2018
Large solubility of lithium carboxylates reaching high rates of 6 Li incorporation in polystyrene-based plastic scintillators for fast/thermal neutron and gamma ray detection Frangville, Camille; Hamel, Matthieu; Bertrand, Guillaume H. V. Materials Chemistry Frontiers, Vol. 3, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1039/c9qm00153k	journal	January 2019
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