Recent developments in plastic scintillators with pulse shape discrimination

Abstract The paper reports results of studies conducted to improve scintillation performance of plastic scintillators capable of neutron/gamma pulse-shape discrimination (PSD). Compositional modifications made with the polymer matrix improved physical stability, allowing for increased loads of the primary dye that, in combination with selected secondary dyes, provided enhanced PSD especially important for the lower energy ranges. Additional measurements were made with a newly-introduced PSD plastic EJ-276, that replaces the first commercially produced EJ-299. Comparative studies conducted with the new materials and EJ-309 liquids at large scale (up to 10 cm) show that current plastics may provide scintillation and PSD performance sufficient for the replacement of liquid scintillators. Comparison to stilbene single crystals compliments the information about the status of the solid-state materials recently developed for fast neutron detection applications.

[1]  S. Payne,et al.  Pulse shape discrimination in non-aromatic plastics , 2015 .

[2]  S. Payne,et al.  Pulse Shape Discrimination in Impure and Mixed Single-Crystal Organic Scintillators , 2011, IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science.

[3]  S. Pozzi,et al.  Neutron response characterization for an EJ299-33 plastic scintillation detector , 2014 .

[4]  Lester E. Smith,et al.  A digital technique for neutron-gamma pulse shape discrimination , 1976 .

[5]  J. B. Birks,et al.  The Theory and Practice of Scintillation Counting , 1965 .

[6]  Stephen A. Payne,et al.  Scintillation properties of solution-grown trans-stilbene single crystals , 2015 .

[7]  S. Payne,et al.  The effect of material purity on the optical and scintillation properties of solution-grown trans-stilbene crystals , 2012 .

[8]  P. N. Zhmurin,et al.  Polystyrene-based scintillator with pulse-shape discrimination capability , 2014 .

[9]  Stephen A. Payne,et al.  Plastic scintillators with efficient neutron/gamma pulse shape discrimination , 2012 .

[10]  A. Buffler,et al.  Neutron Spectrometry with EJ299-33 Plastic Scintillator for ${E_n} = 10 \! - \! 100 ~\hbox{MeV}$ , 2015, IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science.

[11]  C. Gwon,et al.  Comparing the response of PSD-capable plastic scintillator to standard liquid scintillator , 2015 .

[12]  N. Galunov.  Determination of the light yield of organic scintillators , 2013 .

[13]  S. Payne,et al.  Boron-loaded plastic scintillator with neutron-γ pulse shape discrimination capability , 2014 .

[14]  S. Payne,et al.  Transparent plastic scintillators for neutron detection based on lithium salicylate , 2016 .

[15]  F. D. Brooks.  Development of organic scintillators , 1979 .

[16]  Sara A. Pozzi,et al.  Pulse shape discrimination in the plastic scintillator EJ-299-33 , 2013 .

[17]  Lukasz Swiderski,et al.  Comparative study of large samples (2" × 2") plastic scintillators and EJ309 liquid with pulse shape discrimination (PSD) capabilities , 2014 .

[18]  Q. Pei,et al.  Pulse shape discrimination properties of plastic scintillators incorporating a rationally designed highly soluble and polymerizable derivative of 9,10-diphenylanthracene , 2016 .

[19]  F. D. Brooks,et al.  Pulse Shape Discrimination in a Plastic Scintillator , 1960, IRE Transactions on Nuclear Science.

[20]  S. Payne,et al.  Pulse shape discrimination with lithium-containing organic scintillators , 2013 .

[21]  G. Nebbia,et al.  Experimental tests of the new plastic scintillator with pulse shape discrimination capabilities EJ-299-33 , 2014 .