Investigation of thermal neutron/gamma discrimination capability of a CLYC Scintillator with a SiPM in a mixed field of 241Am-Be neutron source: Pulse shape discrimination using constant fraction time over threshold (CF-TOT) and cumulative charge ratio (CCR)

IF 1.8 3区物理与天体物理 Q2 NUCLEAR SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Radiation Measurements Pub Date : 2025-12-01 Epub Date: 2025-10-17 DOI:10.1016/j.radmeas.2025.107540

Haluk Yücel , Ege Can Karanfil , Mehmet Can Karaman , Okay Tüzel , Zeynep Dağıstan , Kadir Özgür Hanci , Miray Özkan

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

In this study, neutron detection and neutron/gamma discrimination capability of a 99 % ⁶Li enriched CLYC (Cs₂LiYCl₆:Ce) scintillator detector module incorporating a built-in microcontroller-based MCA featuring analog-signal processing for pulse shape discrimination method is investigated. This miniature detector module has a small-sized

15 \times 15 \times 25 m m^{3}

CLYC crystal, optically coupled with Silicon Photomultiplier (SiPM). It uses a temperature compensated bias supply. The analog-signal processing components of this compact detector system implement the constant fraction time over threshold (CF-TOT) and cumulative charge ratio (CCR) methods for the pulse shape discrimination. The neutron/gamma measurements were performed in a thermalized neutron field having a thermal neutron flux of 2.11 × 10³ n∙cm⁻²∙s⁻¹ of an ²⁴¹Am-Be neutron source. The obtained pulse-height spectra is stored in a 4096 channels ADC/MCA. From the observed spectra, noise and low-energy events are lying quite far from neutron and gamma pulses. The figure of merit (FoM) criteria for the performance of PSD method was estimated to be 1.274. This means that the presently developed compact neutron detector system based on CLYC scintillation crystal has a good thermal neutron/gamma discrimination capability although there are high energy gamma-ray in the field. Thus, this compact device can be a versatile device for measuring thermal neutron fluxes in space-constrained or portable applications such as small ducts or openings. Moreover, it has a potential use for the detection of neutrons in the mixed fields from micro-modular (MMR) reactors or small modular reactor (SMR) environments.

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带有SiPM的CLYC闪烁体在241Am-Be中子源混合场中热中子/伽马识别能力的研究：利用恒分数阈值时间（CF-TOT）和累积电荷比（CCR）进行脉冲形状识别

在这项研究中，研究了含有内置微控制器的MCA的99% 6Li富集CLYC （Cs2LiYCl6:Ce）闪烁体探测器模块的中子探测和中子/伽马识别能力，该模块具有用于脉冲形状识别方法的模拟信号处理。这个微型探测器模块有一个小尺寸的15×15×25mm3 CLYC晶体，与硅光电倍增管（SiPM）光学耦合。它使用温度补偿偏置电源。该系统的模拟信号处理组件实现了恒分数阈值时间（CF-TOT）和累积电荷比（CCR）方法进行脉冲形状判别。中子/伽马测量是在241Am-Be中子源的热中子场中进行的，热中子通量为2.11 × 103 n∙cm−2∙s−1。得到的脉冲高度谱存储在4096通道ADC/MCA中。从观测到的光谱来看，噪声和低能事件离中子和伽马脉冲很远。评价PSD方法性能的优点值（FoM）标准估计为1.274。这意味着目前研制的基于CLYC闪烁晶体的紧凑型中子探测器系统，尽管存在高能伽玛射线，但仍具有良好的热中子/伽玛识别能力。因此，这种紧凑的装置可以是一个多功能的装置，用于测量空间受限或便携式应用，如小管道或开口的热中子通量。此外，它在微模块反应堆（MMR）或小模块反应堆（SMR）环境中混合场的中子探测方面具有潜在的用途。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Radiation Measurements 工程技术-核科学技术

CiteScore

4.10

自引率

20.00%

发文量

116

审稿时长

48 days

期刊介绍： The journal seeks to publish papers that present advances in the following areas: spontaneous and stimulated luminescence (including scintillating materials, thermoluminescence, and optically stimulated luminescence); electron spin resonance of natural and synthetic materials; the physics, design and performance of radiation measurements (including computational modelling such as electronic transport simulations); the novel basic aspects of radiation measurement in medical physics. Studies of energy-transfer phenomena, track physics and microdosimetry are also of interest to the journal. Applications relevant to the journal, particularly where they present novel detection techniques, novel analytical approaches or novel materials, include: personal dosimetry (including dosimetric quantities, active/electronic and passive monitoring techniques for photon, neutron and charged-particle exposures); environmental dosimetry (including methodological advances and predictive models related to radon, but generally excluding local survey results of radon where the main aim is to establish the radiation risk to populations); cosmic and high-energy radiation measurements (including dosimetry, space radiation effects, and single event upsets); dosimetry-based archaeological and Quaternary dating; dosimetry-based approaches to thermochronometry; accident and retrospective dosimetry (including activation detectors), and dosimetry and measurements related to medical applications.