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Title: Comparison of pulse shape discrimination performance of stilbene and liquid scintillator under high count-rate active interrogation conditions

Journal Article · · Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section A, Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [1];  [2]
  1. Rapiscan Lab., Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (United States)
  2. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
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Here, we compare the pulse-shape-discrimination performance of a large Stilbene detector, manufactured at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, to a similarly sized liquid scintillator, made by Eljen Technologies, Inc. (type EJ309), under various high-count-rate scenarios, such as can be expected during Active Interrogation of objects using an electric neutron generator for detecting the presence of Special Nuclear Materials and contraband. Pulse Shape Discrimination (PSD) is performed with an extension of previously described wavelet and event fitting algorithms, which are also used to reject pileup events and to correct the energy calibration for event signals clipped during digitization. We find that strong PSD and pileup rejection cuts are required to function in this high-count-rate environment. Whereas the Stilbene detector has intrinsically better pulse-shape discrimination performance, the pulses of events from the liquid scintillator are somewhat narrower, reducing pileup. We use an event fitting cut that provides simultaneous PSD identification and pileup rejection. When applying the same cut to data taken with both detectors, we find that Stilbene has higher event use efficiency by about a factor of two and retains a better gamma rejection ratio compared to EJ309.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); USDHS
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-07NA27344; HSHQDC-15-X-B0006
OSTI ID:
1669215
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1636302
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL-755162; 941964; TRN: US2203809
Journal Information:
Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section A, Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 954; ISSN 0168-9002
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 6 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (5)

Pulse Shape Discrimination Algorithms, Figures of Merit, and Gamma-Rejection for Liquid and Solid Scintillators journal July 2017
Pulse shape discrimination journal December 1964
Neutron Slowing Down Time Based Inspection Method journal July 2017
Measurement of Compton edge position in low-Z scintillators journal March 2010
Comparison of Pulse Shape Discrimination Methods for Phoswich and CsI:Tl Detectors journal April 2007

Figures / Tables (20)

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Related Subjects

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
active interrogation
EJ309
gamma-rejection
gamma-rejection ratio
liquid scintillator
pileup rejection
PSD
pulse pileup
pulse shape discrimination
scintillators
stilbene