High-pressure 3He–Xe gas scintillators for simultaneous detection of neutrons and gamma rays over a large energy range

We report on features of high-pressure 3He–Xe gas scintillators which have not been sufficiently addressed in the past. Such gas scintillators can be used not only for the efficient detection of low-energy neutrons but at the same time for the detection and identification of γ ‐ rays as well. Furthermore, 3He–Xe gas scintillators are also very convenient detectors for fast neutrons in the 1–10 MeV energy range and for high-energy γ ‐ rays in the 7–15 MeV energy range. Due to their linear pulse-height response and self calibration via the 3He(n,p)3H reaction, neutron and γ ‐ ray energies can easily be determined in this high-energy regime.