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Title: Low energy light yield of fast plastic scintillators

Abstract

Compact neutron imagers using double-scatter kinematic reconstruction are being designed for localization and characterization of special nuclear material. These neutron imaging systems rely on scintillators with a rapid prompt temporal response as the detection medium. As n-p elastic scattering is the primary mechanism for light generation by fast neutron interactions in organic scintillators, proton light yield data are needed for accurate assessment of scintillator performance. The proton light yield of a series of commercial fast plastic organic scintillators—EJ-200, EJ-204, and EJ-208—was measured via a double time-of-flight technique at the 88-Inch Cyclotron at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Using a tunable deuteron breakup neutron source, target scintillators housed in a dual photomultiplier tube configuration, and an array of pulse-shape- discriminating observation scintillators, the fast plastic scintillator light yield was measured over a broad and continuous energy range down to proton recoil energies of approximately 50 keV. Furthermore, this work provides key input to event reconstruction algorithms required for utilization of these materials in emerging neutron imaging modalities.

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [5]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
  2. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States)
  3. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
  4. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
  5. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
University of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation
OSTI Identifier:
1493703
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1636284; OSTI ID: 1657675
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL-757608
Journal ID: ISSN 0168-9002
Grant/Contract Number:  
NA0003180; AC02-05CH11231; AC52-07NA27344; NA0003525
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section A, Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 954; Journal ID: ISSN 0168-9002
Publisher:
Elsevier
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY; Organic scintillator; Plastic scintillator; Proton light yield; Neutron detection; Time-of-flight

Citation Formats

Laplace, T. A., Goldblum, B. L., Brown, J. A., Bleuel, D. L., Brand, C. A., Gabella, G., Jordan, T., Moore, C., Munshi, N., Sweger, Z. W., Sweet, A., and Brubaker, E. Low energy light yield of fast plastic scintillators. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1016/j.nima.2018.10.122.
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Laplace, T. A., Goldblum, B. L., Brown, J. A., Bleuel, D. L., Brand, C. A., Gabella, G., Jordan, T., Moore, C., Munshi, N., Sweger, Z. W., Sweet, A., & Brubaker, E. Low energy light yield of fast plastic scintillators. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2018.10.122
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Laplace, T. A., Goldblum, B. L., Brown, J. A., Bleuel, D. L., Brand, C. A., Gabella, G., Jordan, T., Moore, C., Munshi, N., Sweger, Z. W., Sweet, A., and Brubaker, E. Fri . "Low energy light yield of fast plastic scintillators". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2018.10.122. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1493703.
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@article{osti_1493703,
title = {Low energy light yield of fast plastic scintillators},
author = {Laplace, T. A. and Goldblum, B. L. and Brown, J. A. and Bleuel, D. L. and Brand, C. A. and Gabella, G. and Jordan, T. and Moore, C. and Munshi, N. and Sweger, Z. W. and Sweet, A. and Brubaker, E.},
abstractNote = {Compact neutron imagers using double-scatter kinematic reconstruction are being designed for localization and characterization of special nuclear material. These neutron imaging systems rely on scintillators with a rapid prompt temporal response as the detection medium. As n-p elastic scattering is the primary mechanism for light generation by fast neutron interactions in organic scintillators, proton light yield data are needed for accurate assessment of scintillator performance. The proton light yield of a series of commercial fast plastic organic scintillators—EJ-200, EJ-204, and EJ-208—was measured via a double time-of-flight technique at the 88-Inch Cyclotron at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Using a tunable deuteron breakup neutron source, target scintillators housed in a dual photomultiplier tube configuration, and an array of pulse-shape- discriminating observation scintillators, the fast plastic scintillator light yield was measured over a broad and continuous energy range down to proton recoil energies of approximately 50 keV. Furthermore, this work provides key input to event reconstruction algorithms required for utilization of these materials in emerging neutron imaging modalities.},
doi = {10.1016/j.nima.2018.10.122},
journal = {Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section A, Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment},
number = ,
volume = 954,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Oct 26 00:00:00 EDT 2018},
month = {Fri Oct 26 00:00:00 EDT 2018}
}
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Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2018.10.122
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Cited by: 16 works
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Figures / Tables:

Figure 1 Figure 1: Experimental setup for proton light yield measurements. The neutron beam traveled along the $x$-axis (illustrated with a dashed line) through the dual-PMT target scintillator cell. Eleven observation detectors were positioned at forward angles with respect to the incoming neutron beam.
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    Figure 2 (p. 4)figure
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    Figure 5 (p. 7)figure
    Figure 6 (p. 7)figure
    Table A.2 (p. 8)table
    Table A.3 (p. 9)table
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