Boron-10 loaded BC523A liquid scintillator for neutron detection in the border monitoring

• A BC523A liquid scintillator loaded with boron-10 was tested as a detector for both fast and thermal neutrons. Pulse shape discrimination (PSD) method based on a zero-crossing principle was applied to distinguish between neutron and gamma radiation. High quantum efficiency Photonis XP5500B photomultiplier was used to enhance light detection from the scintillator. This allowed a good registration of the energy spectrum of neutron capture events on boron-10, corresponding to about 60 keVee. The applied PSD method proved to be useful for n/γ discrimination. A good resolving power of the method was achieved even without gating on neutron capture events. A comparison with a standard BC501A liquid scintillator was done to evaluate thermal neutrons detection efficiency in BC523A.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik -- Annan fysik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences -- Other Physics Topics (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Atoms

Boron

Boron compounds

Gamma rays

Light emission

Luminescence

Medical imaging

Nuclear reactors

Power spectral density

Pulse shaping circuits

Scintillation

Scintillation counters

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kon (subject category)