Optimum lithium loading of a liquid scintillator for neutron and neutrino detection

Neutral particle detection in high-background environments is greatly aided by the ability to easily load 6Li into liquid scintillators. In this work, we describe a readily available and inexpensive liquid scintillation cocktail stably loaded with a Li mass fraction up to 1%. Compositions that give...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment, 2019-11, Vol.953 (C)
Main Authors: Bergeron, D. E., Mumm, H. P., Tyra, M. A., La Rosa, J., Nour, S., Langford, T. J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Capture gating
INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
inverse beta decay
Li-6
light yield
micellar phase boundary
microemulsion
phase separation
pulse shape discrimination
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Summary:Neutral particle detection in high-background environments is greatly aided by the ability to easily load 6Li into liquid scintillators. In this work, we describe a readily available and inexpensive liquid scintillation cocktail stably loaded with a Li mass fraction up to 1%. Compositions that give thermodynamically stable microemulsions (reverse-micellar systems) were explored, using a Compton spectrum quenching technique to distinguish these from unstable emulsions. Scintillation light yield and transmittance were characterized. Pulse shape discrimination (PSD) was measured using a 252Cf source, showing that electron-like and proton-like recoil events are well-resolved even for Li loading up to 1%, providing a means of background suppression in neutron/neutrino detectors. While samples in this work were prepared with natLi (7.59% 6Li), the neutron capture peak was clearly visible in the PSD spectrum; this implies that while extremely high capture efficiency could be achieved with 6Li-enriched material, a very inexpensive neutron-sensitive detector can be prepared with natLi.
ISSN:0168-9002
1872-9576