Neutron detection and γ-ray suppression using artificial neural networks with the liquid scintillators BC-501A and BC-537

• Published in: Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment, 2019-02, Vol.916, p.238-245
• Main Authors: Söderström, P.-A., Jaworski, G., Valiente Dobón, J.J., Nyberg, J., Agramunt, J., de Angelis, G., Carturan, S., Egea, J., Erduran, M.N., Ertürk, S., de France, G., Gadea, A., Goasduff, A., González, V., Hadyńska-Klȩk, K., Hüyük, T., Modamio, V., Moszynski, M., Di Nitto, A., Palacz, M., Pietralla, N., Sanchis, E., Testov, D., Triossi, A., Wadsworth, R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: BC-501A; BC-537; Digital pulse-shape discrimination; Fast-neutron detection; Liquid scintillator; Neural networks
• ISSN: 0168-9002; 1872-9576; 1872-9576
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nima.2018.11.122

In this work we present a comparison between the two liquid scintillators BC-501A and BC-537 in terms of their performance regarding the pulse-shape discrimination between neutrons and γ rays. Special emphasis is put on the application of artificial neural networks. The results show a systematically higher γ-ray rejection ratio for BC-501A compared to BC-537 applying the commonly used charge comparison method. Using the artificial neural network approach the discrimination quality was improved to more than 95% rejection efficiency of γ rays over the energy range 150 to 1000 keV for both BC-501A and BC-537. However, due to the larger light output of BC-501A compared to BC-537, neutrons could be identified in BC-501A using artificial neural networks down to a recoil proton energy of 800 keV compared to a recoil deuteron energy of 1200 keV for BC-537. We conclude that using artificial neural networks it is possible to obtain the same γ-ray rejection quality from both BC-501A and BC-537 for neutrons above a low-energy threshold. This threshold is, however, lower for BC-501A, which is important for nuclear structure spectroscopy experiments of rare reaction channels where low-energy interactions dominates.