Siloxane scintillators for neutron detectors

The subject of this book is neutron detection through organic scintillators. The presence of neutron is often associated with gamma-ray background, therefore a good neutron detector should be sensitive to gamma-rays as well as to neutrons, being able to discriminate between them. The first aim of the work is to study various siloxane scintillator samples recently developed at the Legnaro National Laboratories (LNL). Three pulse shape discrimination algorithms are implemented and studied. For each of them, the Figures of Merit are calculated at different energy thresholds in order to qualify the results. The second aim of this work is to study the performances of these materials coupled with the state of the art in solid state photodetectors (Silicon Photomultiplier). The use of these devices instead of the more common photomultiplier tubes is of great interest because of their single photon detection capabilities and superior amplitude and time resolution. A preliminary study of the pulse shape discrimination with small area SiPM devices is performed. The performances achieved appear quite promising.