Year
2000
Abstract
This paper describes the development of custom-designed electronics to support a new short-die-away time neutron detector. The detector is configured as a four-sided well counter with each side consisting of 64 alternating layers of 6LiF/ZnS screens and waved-length shifting (WLS) fibers. The inter-spaced WLS fibers transport scintillation light to a photo multiplier tube (PMT) arrangement, provide wave length shifting to better match the PMT photocathode spectral characteristics, and provide additional thermalization for the neutrons. The separation between neutron and gamma-ray events is based on detecting the corresponding difference in time constant of the light output from the 6LiF/ZnS scintillator. This design departs from previous designs using gated integrators by its capability to discriminate events occurring at a high-input rate.