Monitoring neutron generator output in a mixed neutron-gamma field using a plastic scintillator

Quantitative neutron-induced gamma-ray spectroscopy employing neutron generators (NGs) entails monitoring them for possible fluctuations in their neutron output. We accomplished this using a plastic scintillator and recording a spectrum from which we selected a neutron region- of-interest (nROI) to discriminate between neutrons and the accompanying high-energy gamma-rays. We show that the selected nROI is insensitive to changes in the gamma-ray background, thus allowing satisfactory normalization of the gamma-ray spectra of an in-situ system for analyzing soil carbon.