Measurement and simulation of the neutron response of the Nordball liquid scintillator array

The response of the liquid scintillator array Nordball to neutrons in the energy range 1.5 < T n < 10 MeV has been measured by time of flight using a 252Cf fission source. Fission fragments were detected by means of a thin-film plastic scintillator. The measured differential and integral neutron detection efficiencies agree well with predictions of a Monte Carlo simulation of the detector which models geometry accurately and incorporates the measured, non-linear proton light output as a function of energy. The ability of the model to provide systematic corrections to photoneutron cross-sections, measured by Nordball at low energy, is tested in a measurement of the two-body deuteron photodisintegration cross-section in the range E γ = 14 – 18 MeV . After correction the present H 2 ( γ , n ) p measurements agree well with a published evaluation of the large body of H 2 ( γ , p ) n data.