Measuring Fast Neutrons with Large Liquid Scintillation Detector for Ultra-low Background Experiments

Abstract

We developed a 12-liter volume neutron detector filled with the liquid scintillator EJ301 that measures neutrons in an underground laboratory where dark matter and neutrino experiments are located. The detector target is a cylindrical volume coated on the inside with reflective paint (95% reflectivity) that significantly increases the detector's light collection. We demonstrate several calibration techniques using point sources and cosmic-ray muons for energies up to 20 MeV for this large liquid scintillation detector. Neutron-gamma separation using pulse shape discrimination with a few MeV neutrons to hundreds of MeV neutrons is shown for the first time using a large liquid scintillator.

18 pages and 15 figures

References in corpus (7)

• High-Voltage Terminal Test of Test Stand for 1-MV Electrostatic Accelerator
• Enhancement of Real Time EPICS IOC PV Management for Data Archiving System
• Digital pulse-shape discrimination of fast neutrons and gamma rays
• A Model of Nuclear Recoil Scintillation Efficiency in Noble Liquids
• Status of the LUX Dark Matter Search
• The MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR: An R&D project towards a tonne-scale germanium neutrinoless double-beta decay search
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Cited by in corpus (8)

• Light Collection and Pulse-Shape Discrimination in Elongated Scintillator Cells for the PROSPECT Reactor Antineutrino Experiment
• Measuring Muon-Induced Neutrons with Liquid Scintillation Detector at Soudan Mine
• Fast Neutron Detection with a Segmented Spectrometer
• Measurement of the fast neutron background at the China Jinping Underground Laboratory
• Development and Characterization of a High Sensitivity Segmented Fast Neutron Spectrometer (FaNS-2)
• Neutron background measurements with a hybrid neutron detector at the Kuo-Sheng Reactor Neutrino Laboratory
• Observation of annual modulation induced by $\gamma$ rays from ($\alpha$, $\gamma$) reactions at the Soudan Underground Laboratory
• Atmospheric Charged $K/\pi$ Ratio and Measurement of Muon Annual Modulation with a Liquid Scintillation Detector at Soudan