Neutron detection with plastic scintillators coupled to solid state photomultiplier detectors

James F. Christian; Erik B. Johnson; Daniel E. Fernandez; Samuel Vogel; Rebecca Frank; Graham Stoddard; Christopher Stapels; Jorge Pereira; Remco Zegers

doi:10.1117/12.2276991

7 September 2017 Neutron detection with plastic scintillators coupled to solid state photomultiplier detectors

James F. Christian, Erik B. Johnson, Daniel E. Fernandez, Samuel Vogel, Rebecca Frank, Graham Stoddard, Christopher Stapels, Jorge Pereira, Remco Zegers

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 10393, Radiation Detectors in Medicine, Industry, and National Security XVIII; 1039307 (2017) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2276991
Event: SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications, 2017, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

The recent reduction of dark current in Silicon Solid-state photomultipliers (SiSSPMs) makes them an attractive alternative to conventional photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) for scintillation detection applications. Nuclear Physics experiments often require large detector volumes made using scintillation materials, which require sensitive photodetectors, such as a PMTs. PMTs add to the size, fragility, and high-voltage requirements as well as distance requirements for experiments using magnetic fields. This work compares RMD’s latest detector modules, denoted as the “year 2 prototype”, of plastic scintillators that discriminate gamma and high-energy particle events from neutron events using pulse shape discrimination (PSD) coupled to a SiSSPM to the following two detector modules: a similar “year 1 prototype” and a scintillator coupled to a PMT module. It characterizes the noise floor, relative signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), the timing performance, the PSD figure-of-merit (FOM) and the neutron detection efficiency of RMD’s detectors. This work also evaluates the scaling of SiSSPM detector modules to accommodate the volumes needed for many Nuclear Physics experiments. The Si SSPM detector module provides a clear advantage in Nuclear Physics experiments that require the following attributes: discrimination of neutron and gamma-ray events, operation in or near strong magnetic fields, and segmentation of the detector.

Conference Presentation

Citation Download Citation

James F. Christian, Erik B. Johnson, Daniel E. Fernandez, Samuel Vogel, Rebecca Frank, Graham Stoddard, Christopher Stapels, Jorge Pereira, and Remco Zegers "Neutron detection with plastic scintillators coupled to solid state photomultiplier detectors", Proc. SPIE 10393, Radiation Detectors in Medicine, Industry, and National Security XVIII, 1039307 (7 September 2017); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2276991

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