Evaluations of the new LiF-scintillator and optional brightness enhancement films for neutron imaging

Japan Atomic Energy Agency has developed the neutron scintillator jointly with Chichibu Fuji Co., Ltd. In this study, we evaluated the new ZnS(Ag):Al/6Li scintillator developed for neutron imaging. It was confirmed that the brightness increased by about double while maintaining equal performance for the spatial resolution as compared with a conventional scintillator. High frame-rate imaging using a high-speed video camera system and this new scintillator made it possible to image beyond 10 000 frames per second while still having enough brightness. This technique allowed us to obtain a high-frame-rate visualization of oil flow in a running car engine. Furthermore, we devised a technique to increase the light intensity of reception for a camera by adding brightness enhancement films on the output surface of the scintillator. It was confirmed that the spatial resolution degraded more than double, but the brightness increased by about three times.