Detection of thermal neutrons using ZnS(Ag):⁶LiF neutron scintillator read out with WLS fibers and SiPMs

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• 作者：M. Hildebrandt ; ^{malte.hildebrandt@psi.ch" class="auth_mail" title="E-mail the corresponding author} ; A. Stoykov ; J.-B. Mosset ; U. Greuter ; N. Schlumpf
• 关键词：Thermal neutron detector ; Silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) ; Multi-pixel photon counter (MPPC) ; ZnS(Ag) ; 6LiF scintillator ; WLS fiber
• 刊名：Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
• 出版年：2016
• 出版时间：11 July 2016
• 年：2016
• 卷：824
• 期：Complete
• 页码：204-207
• 全文大小：935 K

文摘

In this paper we present the development of a one-dimensional multi-channel thermal neutron detection system for the application in neutron scattering instrumentation, e.g. strain-scanning diffractometers. The detection system is based on ZnS(Ag):⁶LiF neutron scintillator with embedded WLS fibers which are read out with a SiPM. A dedicated signal processing system allows us to suppress the SiPM dark counts and to extract the signals from the neutron absorption events.

For a single-channel detection unit which represents the elementary building block of this detection system we achieved a neutron detection efficiency of ~65% at 1.2 Å, a background count rate $<{10}^{-3}\mathrm{Hz}$ and a gamma-sensitivity <10⁻⁶$<{10}^{-6}$ (measured with a ⁶⁰Co source), while the dead time is ~20 μs and the multi-count ratio is <1%$<1\%$. This performance was achieved even for SiPM dark count rates of up to ~2 MHz.