Year
2013
Abstract
Many organic scintillation detectors are sensitive to both gamma-rays and neutrons, and can distinguish between the two using pulse-shape discrimination. However, the quality of pulse-shape discrimination is degraded at low pulse heights. In the context of arms control applications, the desire to extend sensitivity and PSD accuracy to low neutron energies is paramount, and traditional measures of pulse-shape discrimination such as figure of merit do not capture this attribute as well as desired. Here, we compare PSD performance for two liquids (EJ309 and EJ315) by measuring gamma-ray and neutron misclassification rates as functions of pulse height. Misclassification rates and light output relations were measured using time of flight, at the Van de Graaff accelerator facility at University of Notre Dame, using the 11B(d-n) reaction, with Ed = 5.5 MeV.