Measurement of neutron detection efficiency between 22 and 174 MeV using two different kinds of Pb-scintillating fiber sampling calorimeters

TL;DR

This study measures the neutron detection efficiency of lead-scintillating fiber calorimeters across 22 to 174 MeV, revealing higher efficiency than expected and highlighting the importance of passive material in detector design.

Contribution

It introduces a novel measurement of neutron detection efficiency in lead-scintillating fiber calorimeters and demonstrates the impact of passive material ratio on efficiency.

Findings

Detection efficiency exceeds expectations based on scintillator thickness.

Passive material ratio significantly influences neutron detection efficiency.

Preliminary results with different prototypes confirm the importance of passive material.

Abstract

We exposed a prototype of the lead-scintillating fiber KLOE calorimeter to neutron beam of 21, 46 and 174 MeV at The Svedberg Laboratory, Uppsala, to study its neutron detection efficiency. This has been found larger than what expected considering the scintillator thickness of the prototype. %To check our method, we measured also the neutron %detection efficiency of a 5 cm thick NE110 scintillator. We show preliminary measurement carried out with a different prototype with a larger lead/fiber ratio, which proves the relevance of passive material to neutron detection efficiency in this kind of calorimeters.