Performance of large-scale 6Li-doped pulse-shape discriminating plastic scintillators

TL;DR

This paper reports on the development and characterization of large-scale $^6$Li-doped plastic scintillators with pulse-shape discrimination, demonstrating comparable optical properties to liquid scintillators and high neutron detection efficiency.

Contribution

It introduces a new large-scale $^6$Li-doped plastic scintillator with proven stability and effective neutron detection capabilities, suitable for practical applications.

Findings

Optical properties comparable to liquid scintillators

Effective neutron capture efficiency of ~85%

No degradation over several months of stability tests

Abstract

A $^6$Li-doped plastic scintillator with pulse-shape discrimination capabilities, commercially identified as EJ-299-50, has been developed and produced at the kilogram-scale. A total of 44 kg-scale bars of dimensions 5.5 cm $\times$ 5.5 cm $\times$ 50 cm of this material have been characterized. Optical properties like light output and effective attenuation length have been found to be comparable to $^6$Li-doped liquid scintillators. The scintillator EJ-299-50 shows good neutron detection capabilities with an effective efficiency for capture on $^6$Li of approximately 85%. Stability tests performed on two formulation variations showed no intrinsic degradation in the material or optical properties during several months of observations.