Using decay time to discriminate neutron and gamma ray pulses from a CLYC detector

Arindam Dutta, Premkumar Chandhran, Keith Holbert, Erik B. Johnson

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

The reduced availability of 3He is a motivation for developing alternative neutron detectors. 6Li-enriched CLYC (Cs2LiYCl6), a scintillator, is a promising candidate to replace 3He. The neutron and gamma ray signals from CLYC have different shapes due to the slower decay of neutron pulses. The long decay time associated with the scintillation emission of CLYC often results in pulse pileup for event rates exceeding 100 kHz. Discriminating neutrons in a mixed field of gamma rays and neutrons is a challenging task especially when the event rate is high. There have been other methods that successfully distinguish neutrons at less than 100 kHz event rates, but separating them at higher event rates has not been satisfactory. In this work, we propose an algorithm that discriminates the neutron events directly based on their decay time and energy spectral density (ESD). The approach is assessed with data collected for different event rates (13 kHz to 1660 kHz) for an average data record length of about 750 ms in each case, providing more than 100,000 events to analyze. The results show accurate clusters of neutron events in the pulse shape discrimination (PSD) plot even during high event rates, and the approach gives a uniform figure of merit (FOM) ranging between 1.28-1.35 for all event rates.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publication2015 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference, NSS/MIC 2015
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
ISBN (Electronic)9781467398626
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 3 2016
Event2015 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference, NSS/MIC 2015 - San Diego, United States
Duration: Oct 31 2015Nov 7 2015

Publication series

Name2015 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference, NSS/MIC 2015

Other

Other2015 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference, NSS/MIC 2015
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CitySan Diego
Period10/31/1511/7/15

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Nuclear and High Energy Physics
  • Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging
  • Instrumentation

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