Neutron spectroscopy using III-V semiconductor scintillators

Johnathan D. Wensman; Noel A. Guardala; Veerendra K. Mathur; John F. Currie

doi:10.1117/12.2176349

22 May 2015 Neutron spectroscopy using III-V semiconductor scintillators

Johnathan D. Wensman, Noel A. Guardala, Veerendra K. Mathur, John F. Currie

Proceedings Volume 9455, Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives (CBRNE) Sensing XVI; 945502 (2015) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2176349
Event: SPIE Defense + Security, 2015, Baltimore, MD, United States

Abstract

The feasibility of a hydrogen implanted, direct band gap III-V semiconductors as new scintillators for fast neutron spectroscopy using the proton-recoil technique has been investigated. Direct band gap semiconductors have high radiative efficiency and have the potential of high photon yield per unit energy deposited, which are desirable features for a scintillator used for pulse height analysis. In this paper we present our computational results obtained using SRIM software for select materials. The expected depth profiles of implanted hydrogen ions have been applied to the n-p elastic recoil process in both InP and GaN. It is shown that, under ideal conditions, neutron irradiation of hydrogen implanted InP and GaN creates proton recoil scintillation with photon output being directly proportional to incoming neutron energy. It has been found that for the desirable dynamic range of neutron energies, loss to phonon creation in the lattice is negligible compared to energy used in electron excitation which results in the linear response in energy versus pulse height spectrum.

Citation Download Citation

Johnathan D. Wensman, Noel A. Guardala, Veerendra K. Mathur, and John F. Currie "Neutron spectroscopy using III-V semiconductor scintillators", Proc. SPIE 9455, Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives (CBRNE) Sensing XVI, 945502 (22 May 2015); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2176349

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