Detection properties of a neutron counter based on scintillator, wavelength shifter, and photomultiplier

A simple neutron counter based on a scintillator strip, a wavelength shifter rod, and a photomultiplier was constructed in order to compare the properties of such a detector to a commercially available ³He counter. A calculation of the number of photons per absorbed neutron shows that with the bright ⁶Li¹⁵⁸Gd(¹¹BO₃)₃ scintillator, light levels should be sufficient to perform pulse height discrimination. This has been experimentally demonstrated. Furthermore, the performance of this scintillation neutron counter has been measured in time-of-flight experiments where simultaneously the neutron spectra were recorded with a ³He proportional counter.