TY - JOUR
T1 - Sensitivity and linearity of optical fiber-based neutron detectors using small6Li-based scintillators
AU - Ishikawa, Akihisa
AU - Yamazaki, Atsushi
AU - Watanabe, Kenichi
AU - Yoshihashi, Sachiko
AU - Uritani, Akira
AU - Fukuda, Kentaro
AU - Koike, Akifumi
AU - Ogawara, Ryo
AU - Suda, Mitsuru
AU - Hamano, Tsuyoshi
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was partially supported by AMED under Grant Number JP17hk0102042 . The authors would like to thank Enago for the English language review.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2020/2/21
Y1 - 2020/2/21
N2 - We developed optical fiber-based neutron detectors that use small pieces of6Li-based scintillators, namely, Eu:LiCaAlF6 crystals and LiF/Eu:CaF2 eutectics. Considering that these elements have high light yields (more than 10,000 photons/neutron), they can produce pulse height spectra with clear peaks even when using optical fiber light guides. To adjust the neutron sensitivity, we controlled the amount of6Li in the scintillator. We fabricated three different detectors using Eu:LiCaAlF6 and LiF/Eu:CaF2 with various amounts of6Li and then evaluated the neutron sensitivity of each detector. This approach confirmed that there was a linear relationship between the neutron sensitivity and amount of6Li, thus implying that the6Li mass measured by a high-precision balance could be a good metric of neutron sensitivity. We also checked the linearity of the output of the detector at relatively high neutron fluxes by using an accelerator-based neutron source. Although the detectors showed saturation behavior at high count rate, we were able to cover a relatively wide dynamic range by combining multiple detectors using different amounts of6Li. After correcting for the pulse height distortion and count loss due to pile-up events, we were able to confirm the linearity of the detectors up to a count rates of 100 kcps.
AB - We developed optical fiber-based neutron detectors that use small pieces of6Li-based scintillators, namely, Eu:LiCaAlF6 crystals and LiF/Eu:CaF2 eutectics. Considering that these elements have high light yields (more than 10,000 photons/neutron), they can produce pulse height spectra with clear peaks even when using optical fiber light guides. To adjust the neutron sensitivity, we controlled the amount of6Li in the scintillator. We fabricated three different detectors using Eu:LiCaAlF6 and LiF/Eu:CaF2 with various amounts of6Li and then evaluated the neutron sensitivity of each detector. This approach confirmed that there was a linear relationship between the neutron sensitivity and amount of6Li, thus implying that the6Li mass measured by a high-precision balance could be a good metric of neutron sensitivity. We also checked the linearity of the output of the detector at relatively high neutron fluxes by using an accelerator-based neutron source. Although the detectors showed saturation behavior at high count rate, we were able to cover a relatively wide dynamic range by combining multiple detectors using different amounts of6Li. After correcting for the pulse height distortion and count loss due to pile-up events, we were able to confirm the linearity of the detectors up to a count rates of 100 kcps.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.nima.2018.11.120
DO - 10.1016/j.nima.2018.11.120
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85060486579
SN - 0168-9002
VL - 954
JO - Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
JF - Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
M1 - 161661
ER -