Development of Compact Neutron Detectors using Pulse Shape Analysis

该项目旨在开发一种紧凑型低功率中子探测器，利用所用闪烁材料激发和去激发的时间特性差异，在其他电离辐射源的背景下识别中子。这种探测器系统将在核监测、核保障和国土安全等方面得到广泛的应用。它将使用低功率半导体传感器和波形数字化器来记录和研究输出光的脉冲形状作为时间的函数，并用于不同类型的入射辐射，从中子到α，β和γ辐射。将使用计算算法离线研究记录的波形，以提取最佳品质因数，确定具有最高信噪比的最有前途的方法。下一步，该算法将被应用到实验硬件中，使用基于FPGA的解决方案或模拟电子设备，以实时区分辐射类型。然后，探测器系统将在格拉斯哥大学的辐射源以及AWE的最终用户集中设施中进行测试。

The project aims at developing a compact, low power neutron detector, which can identify neutrons in a background of other sources of ionising radiation exploiting differences in the time behaviour of the excitation and de-excitation of the scintillation material used. Such a detector system will find widespread applications in nuclear monitoring, nuclear safeguarding and homeland security.The work will focus on studying four novel scintillation materials, aimed at neutrons of differieren energies. It will used low power semiconductor sensors and wave form digitisers to record and study the pulse shape of the output light as a function of time and for different types of incident radiation, from neutrons to alpha, beta and gamma radiation. The recorded wave forms will be studied offline using computing algorithms to extract the best figure of merit, identifying the most promising method with the highest signal-to-noise ratio. In the next step, this algorithm will be implemented into experimental hardware, either using FPGA based solutions or in analogue electronics to allow real-time discrimination between radiation types.The detector system will then be tested against radiation sources at the University of Glasgow as well as in end-user focussed facilities at AWE.