Timing and Spectroscopy Requirements for a Plastic Scintillating Fiber Bundle Time-of-Flight Neutron Spectrometer
Abstract
The design parameters of a Time-of-Flight (TOF) neutron spectrometer composed of BCF-12 plastic scintillating fibers were investigated. A GEANT4 transport model was developed for analyzing the interaction of 2.5 MeV neutrons with a 14 x 14 BCF-12 ber bundle. The bundle simulation demonstrated that 0.359% of all neutrons incident on the bundle will double scatter. The timing and data collection e efficiencies of a Tektronix DPO7104 series digital oscilloscope were examined to determine the signal processing requirements for future ber bundle measurements. The minimum detectable neutron energy was computed by taking into account the bundle scintillation e efficiency, light collection e efficiency, photodiode quantum e efficiency, and quenching. For a BCF-12 ber coupled to dual-readout Hamamatsu S10362-11-025C series Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMT), the minimum detectable neutron energy was calculated to be 300-700 keV, depending on the ber cladding and geometry. The spatial and timing uncertainties were set to 1 mm and 0.1 ns, respectively, to determine the overall energy uncertainty associated with a TOF neutron spectrometer. The uncertainties of 1 mm and 0.1 ns were chosen as the optimal capabilities of the SiPMT and digital oscilloscope. Finally, analysis of a SiPMT in a light-tight box was performed to validate dark counts, determine light leakage and other detection system background noise. An experiment involving a 14 x 14 BCF-12 ber bundle connected to dual-readout SiPMTs is recommended for future research to compare to the GEANT4 double scatter event probability.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 2013
- Accession Number
- ADA603828
Entities
People
- Paul A. Clement
Organizations
- Air Force Institute of Technology