A comparison of the neutron detection efficiency and response
characteristics of two pixelated PSD-capable organic scintillator detectors
with different photo-detection readout methods
We characterize the performance of two pixelated neutron detectors: a
PMT-based array that utilizes Anger logic for pixel identification and a
SiPM-based array that employs individual pixel readout. The SiPM-based array
offers improved performance over the previously developed PMT-based detector
both in terms of uniformity and neutron detection efficiency. Each detector
array uses PSD-capable plastic scintillator as a detection medium. We describe
the calibration and neutron efficiency measurement of both detectors using a
137Cs source for energy calibration and a 252Cf source for
calibration of the neutron response. We find that the intrinsic neutron
detection efficiency of the SiPM-based array is (30.2 ± 1.7)\%, which
is almost twice that of the PMT-based array, which we measure to be (16.9±0.2)\%