Intensified CCDs as position sensitive neutron detectors

We present a detector with high spatial resolution that uses an intensified CCD to observe the light output of a thin scintillator, which can be chosen to be sensitive either to neutrons or X-rays. The CCD is read out at high pixel rates and the resulting video signal is analyzed in real-time to obtain the coordinates of the centers of the scintillation events. A fast centroiding algorithm based on digital signal processing techniques results in a resolution of 60 μm. More sophisticated algorithms have been tested to yield subpixel resolution (40μm). Count rates of about 50 000 neutrons per second on a sensitive area of 25 mm diameter have been achieved.