Development of a Fast-Neutron Detector With Silicon Photomultiplier Readout

A robust neutron detector was developed to monitor the neutron flux in fast-neutron/gamma radiography (FNGR) cargo scanners. The main features of the new neutron detector were an ability to handle high count rate for statistical precision and a high damage threshold for longevity when used close to...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on nuclear science 2009-06, Vol.56 (3), p.1129-1134
Main Authors: Bencardino, R., Eberhardt, J.E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Counting
Detectors
Fibre
FNGR
gain control
Gamma ray detection
Gamma ray detectors
Generators
Monitoring
MPPC
Multiplier phototubes
Neutron detectors
Neutrons
Photomultipliers
Plastics
Radiography
Robustness
Silicon
SiPM
Temperature
temperature techniques
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:A robust neutron detector was developed to monitor the neutron flux in fast-neutron/gamma radiography (FNGR) cargo scanners. The main features of the new neutron detector were an ability to handle high count rate for statistical precision and a high damage threshold for longevity when used close to intense fast neutron sources (up to 10 10 n/s). The detector comprises a fast scintillator coupled to a shielded 100 pixel Hamamatsu 1 mm times 1 mm silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) via a 220 cm length of wavelength shifting (WLS) plastic fibre. The WLS fibre was glued onto two long sides of a 10 times 10 times 50 mm scintillator wrapped in Tyvek reflector. Scintillation pulses of up to ~40 photons reached the SiPM. With the detector mounted 60 mm from a Thermo A-325 DT neutron generator (up to 6 times 10 7 n/s) the count rate was over 4 times 10 4 counts per second. The SiPM gain was effectively stabilised against temperature variations by automatically trimming the bias voltage with SiPM temperature. Comparison data is provided for a photodiode-scintillator neutron detector placed 134 cm from the A-325 neutron generator and for a PMT-WLS-scintillator neutron detector.
ISSN:0018-9499
1558-1578
DOI:10.1109/TNS.2009.2017743