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Title: Light propagation in a neutron detector based on 6Li glass scintillator particles in an organic matrix

Journal Article · · Journal of Applied Physics
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5047433· OSTI ID:1477701
ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1]
  1. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
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Composite materials consisting of 6Li scintillator particles in an organic matrix can enable thermal neutron detectors with excellent rejection of gamma-ray backgrounds. The efficiency of transporting scintillation light through such a composite is critical to the detector performance. This optical raytracing study of a composite thermal neutron detector quantifies the various sources of scintillation light loss and identifies favorable photomultiplier tube (PMT) readout schemes. The composite material consisted of scintillator cubes within an organic matrix shaped as a right cylinder. The cylinder surface was surrounded by an optical reflector, and the light was detected by PMTs attached to the cylinder end faces. A reflector in direct contact with the composite caused 53% loss of scintillation light. This loss was reduced 8-fold by creating an air gap between the composite and the reflector to allow a fraction of the scintillation light to propagate by total internal reflection. Replacing a liquid mineral oil matrix with a solid acrylic matrix decreased the light transport efficiency by only ~10% for the benefit of creating an all-solid-state device. The light propagation loss was found to scale exponentially with the distance between the scintillation event and the PMT along the cylinder main axis. This enabled a PMT readout scheme that corrects for light propagation loss on an event-by-event basis and achieved a 4.0% energy resolution that approached Poisson-limited performance. These results demonstrate that composite materials can enable practical thermal neutron detectors for a wide range of nuclear non-proliferation and safeguard applications.

Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-06NA25396
OSTI ID:
1477701
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1474776
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-18-25954
Journal Information:
Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 124, Issue 12; ISSN 0021-8979
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 8 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Figures / Tables (10)

Table 1(p. 21)table Table 1
Table 2(p. 22)table Table 2
Table 3(p. 23)table Table 3
Figure 1(p. 24)figure Figure 1
Figure 2(p. 25)figure Figure 2
Figure 3(p. 26)figure Figure 3
Figure 4(p. 27)figure Figure 4
Figure 5(p. 28)figure Figure 5
Figure 6(p. 29)figure Figure 6
Figure 7(p. 30)figure Figure 7

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Related Subjects

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
photocathodes
gamma rays
optical reflectors
photomultipliers
scintillators
neutron detectors
composite materials
luminescence
solid-state devices