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Pulse Shape Discrimination (PSD) scintillators are capable of distinguishing between gamma and neutron interactions through differences in their scintillation pulse shapes, enabling both types of radiation to be detected and distinguished through a single detector. Although plastic scintillators offer limited energy resolution in comparison to inorganic scintillators, due to the low Z materials utilised in their construction, PSD plastic scintillators have potential applications in nuclear security and non-proliferation. Their ability to detect neutrons and gammas with one detector makes them an attractive candidate to detect and identify special nuclear material.
PSD plastic scintillators are a relatively new class of scintillators, typically with a strong ability to separate neutrons and gammas, but with a large degradation in both light output and PSD performance throughout their operational lifetimes. Studies into the degradation of plastic scintillators have identified fogging, induced by the uptake of atmospheric water as a primary driver of performance degradation [1]. In traditional plastic scintillators, this has the effect of reducing the amount of scintillation light, but in PSD plastics, it can also reduce the separation between neutron and gamma signals.
The recently released scintillator EJ-276D (Eljen Technologies) is reported to exhibit superior hardness and performance stability than previous iterations. This work investigates the degradation in light output and PSD performance of EJ-276D through a high humidity thermal cycling test, and is an initial part of a larger study into the environmental stability of EJ-276D, alongside other PSD capable scintillators and their potential for long term radiation detection applications.
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[1] – A. Janos Et al. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A 954, 161703 (2020)