Search

The Optically Segmented Single Volume Scatter Camera (OS-SVSC) aims to image neutron sources for nuclear non-proliferation applications using the kinematic reconstruction of elastic double-scatter events. We report on the design, construction, and calibration of one module of a new prototype. The module includes 16 EJ-204 organic plastic scintillating bars individually wrapped in Teflon tape, each measuring 0.5 cm$\times$0.5 cm$\times$20 cm. The scintillator array is coupled to two custom Silicon Photomultiplier (SiPM) boards consisting of a 2$\times$8 array of SensL J-Series-60035 Silicon Photomultipliers, which are read out by a custom 16 channel DRS-4 based digitizer board. The electrical crosstalk between SiPMs within the electronics chain is measured as 0.76% $\pm$ 0.11% among all 16 channels. We report the detector response of one module including interaction position, time, and energy, using two different optical coupling materials: EJ-560 silicone rubber optical coupling pads and EJ-550 optical coupling grease. We present results in terms of the overall mean and standard deviation of the z-position reconstruction and interaction time resolutions for all 16 bars in the module. We observed the z-position resolution for gamma interactions in the 0.3 MeVee to 0.4 MeVee range to be 2.24 cm$\pm$1.10 cm and 1.45 cm$\pm$0.19 cm for silicone optical coupling pad and optical grease, respectively. The observed interaction time resolution is 265 ps$\pm$29 ps and 235 ps$\pm$10 ps for silicone optical coupling pad and optical grease, respectively., Comment: 11 pages, 21 figures. This work has been submitted to the IEEE for possible publication. Copyright may be transferred without notice, after which this version may no longer be accessible

We report on the energy, timing, and pulse-shape discrimination performance of cylindrical 5 cm diameter x 5 cm thick and 7 cm diameter x 7 cm thick {\it trans}-stilbene crystals read out with the passively summed output of three different commercial silicon photo-multiplier arrays. Our results indicate that using the summed output of an 8x8 array of SiPMs provides performance competitive with photo-multiplier tubes for many neutron imaging and correlated particle measurements: for the 5x5 cm crystal read out with SensL's ArrayJ-60035\_64P-PCB, which had the best overall properties, we measure the energy resolution as 13.6$\pm$1.8\% at 341 keVee, the timing resolution in the 100--400 keVee range as 277$\pm$34 ps, and the pulse-shape discrimination figure-of-merit as 2.21$\pm$0.03 in the 230--260 keVee energy range. These results enable many scintillator-based instruments to enjoy the size, robustness, and power benefits of silicon photo-multiplier arrays as replacement for the photo-multiplier tubes that are predominantly used today.

We report on the position, timing, and energy resolution of a range of plastic scintillator bars and reflector treatments using dual-ended silicon photomultiplier readout. These measurements are motivated by the upcoming construction of an optically segmented single-volume neutron scatter camera, in which neutron elastic scattering off of hydrogen is used to kinematically reconstruct the source direction and energy of an incoming neutron. For this application, interaction position resolutions of about 10 mm and timing resolutions of about 1 ns are necessary to achieve the desired efficiency for fission-energy neutrons. The results presented here indicate that this is achievable with an array of $5\times5\times190~\mathrm{mm}^3$ bars of EJ-204 scintillator wrapped in Teflon tape, read out with SensL's J-series $6\times6~\mathrm{mm}^2$ silicon photomultipliers. With two independent setups, we also explore the systematic variability of the position resolution, and show that, in general, using the difference in the pulse arrival time at the two ends is less susceptible to systematic variation than using the log ratio of the charge amplitude of the two ends. Finally, we measure a bias in the absolute time of interactions as a function of position along the bar: the measured interaction time for events at the center of the bar is $\sim$100 ps later than interactions near the SiPM.

Neutron detection provides an effective method to detect, locate, and characterize sources of interest to nuclear security applications. Current neutron imaging systems based on double-scatter kinematic reconstruction provide good signal vs. background discrimination and spectral capability, but suffer from poor sensitivity due to geometrical constraints. This weakness can be overcome if both neutron-proton scattering interactions are detected and resolved within one large contiguous active detector volume. We describe here a maximum likelihood approach to event reconstruction in a single-volume system with no optical segmentation and sensitivity to individual optical photons on the surfaces of the scintillator. We present results from a Geant4-based simulation establishing the feasibility of this single-volume neutron scatter camera concept given notional performance of existing photodetector and readout technologies., Comment: 27 pages, 11 figures. For submission to NIM A

We make a proof-of-principle demonstration that improved energy resolution can be obtained in a negative-ion time projection chamber, by individually counting each electron produced by ionizing radiation., Comment: Submitted to Nucl. Instr. Meth. A