Thermal neutron detection at outer electrode surfaces of composite polycrystalline B, BN, B4C and LiF through air ionization

M. Schieber, E. Mojaev*, M. Roth, A. Zuck, O. Khakhan, A. Fleider

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Single phase polycrystalline hexagonal boron nitride (BN) or mixed with boron carbide (BxC) and/or polycrystalline cubic lithium fluoride (LiF) can be embedded in an insulating polymeric matrix. This matrix acts as a binder forming a composite material. Such materials were tested as surface neutron converters of gaseous detectors. Signals were induced by ionized air near electrodes. The detectors show a rather good spectral response for ionized air produced by alpha particles emitted from a 241Am (5.5 MeV) isotope source (∼105 cm-2 s-1) as well as low gamma sensitivity. For detection of thermal neutrons from a low flux source (∼200 cm-2 s-1), neutron counting is possible by subtracting the integrated noise from the integrated total signal counted above some threshold; here again the signals are produced by the ionized air and cannot be detected in vacuum. Crown

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)634-639
Number of pages6
JournalNuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
Volume607
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 21 Aug 2009

Keywords

  • Boron nitride
  • Lithium fluoride
  • Neutron absorption
  • Radiation solid state detectors

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