Nuclear Engineering and Technology

Korean Nuclear Society (한국원자력학회)
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Measuring and unfolding fast neutron spectra using solution-grown trans-stilbene scintillation detector

  • Nguyen Duy Quang (Department of Physics, Kyungpook National University) ;
  • HongJoo Kim (Department of Physics, Kyungpook National University) ;
  • Phan Quoc Vuong (Department of Physics, Kyungpook National University) ;
  • Nguyen Duc Ton (Department of Physics, Kyungpook National University) ;
  • Uk-Won Nam (Space Science Division, Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute) ;
  • Won-Kee Park (Space Science Division, Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute) ;
  • JongDae Sohn (Space Science Division, Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute) ;
  • Young-Jun Choi (Space Science Division, Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute) ;
  • SungHwan Kim (Department of Radiological Science, Cheongju University) ;
  • SukWon Youn (Department of Applied Bioengineering, Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology, Seoul National University) ;
  • Sung-Joon Ye (Department of Applied Bioengineering, Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology, Seoul National University)
  • Received : 2022.05.03
  • Accepted : 2022.10.30
  • Published : 2023.03.25
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Abstract

We propose an overall procedure for measuring and unfolding fast neutron spectra using a trans-stilbene scintillation detector. Detector characterization was described, including the information on energy calibration, detector resolution, and nonproportionality response. The digital charge comparison method was used for the investigation of neutron-gamma Pulse Shape Discrimination (PSD). A pair of values of 600 ns pulse width and 24 ns delay time was found as the optimized conditions for PSD. A fitting technique was introduced to increase the trans-stilbene Proton Response Function (PRF) by 28% based on comparison of the simulated and experimental electron-equivalent distributions by the Cf-252 source. The detector response matrix was constructed by Monte-Carlo simulation and the spectrum unfolding was implemented using the iterative Bayesian method. The unfolding of simulated and measured spectra of Cf-252 and AmBe neutron sources indicates reliable, stable and no-bias results. The unfolding technique was also validated by the measured cosmic-ray induced neutron flux. Our approach is promising for fast neutron detection and spectroscopy.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) Grant funded by the Korea government (MSIP) (NRF-2020M1A3B7108845).

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