Pulse shape discrimination between (fast or thermal) neutrons and gamma rays with plastic scintillators: State of the art

Guillaume H. V. Bertrand (1) , Matthieu Hamel (1) , Stéphane Normand (2) , Fabien Sguerra (1)

1 LCAE (CEA, LIST) - Laboratoire Capteurs et Architectures Electroniques (CEA, LIST)
2 DAM - Direction des Applications Militaires

We would like to present here with the eyes of the chemist the most recent developments of plastic scintillators (PS) for neutron detection. This review covers the period from 2000 to August 2014, and is fragmented in two main chapters. The first chapter deals with the chemical modifications for thermal neutron capture, whereas the second chapter presents the various strategies used to enhance the response to fast neutrons via pulse shape discrimination. For each chapter the theory is also explained.

Mots clés: Plastic scintillator; nuclear instrumentation; instrumentation; Polymers; Fluorescence; Dyes; Radiation detector; Neutron-gamma discrimination; ionizing radiation; radioactivity

Domaines: Instrumentations et Détecteurs [physics.ins-det]; Physique Nucléaire Expérimentale [nucl-ex]; Physique Atomique [physics.atom-ph]; Physique Nucléaire Théorique [nucl-th]

Guillaume H. V. Bertrand, Matthieu Hamel, Stéphane Normand, Fabien Sguerra. Pulse shape discrimination between (fast or thermal) neutrons and gamma rays with plastic scintillators: State of the art. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, 2015, 776, pp.114 - 128. ⟨10.1016/j.nima.2014.12.024⟩. ⟨cea-01863883⟩