Performance of hybrid plastic scintillator detectors for low-energy neutron measurements

We report the performance of hybrid plastic scintillator detectors for low-energy neutron measurements. Boron- and gadolinium-loaded hybrid scintillator detectors were manufactured and tested with slow and fast neutrons. The low-energy slow neutrons were provided by moderated neutrons from a ²⁵²Cf source, whose energy ranged from 10 to 600 meV with a peak at 75 meV. To distinguish slow neutrons from fast neutrons or gamma rays, we employed the pulse-shape analysis method. For the boron-doped scintillators, the tail-to-total-charge ratio distributions for the low-energy neutrons were useful to estimate the fraction of gamma rays in the neutron signals. However, for the gadolinium-layer-implanted detectors, the difference between the low-energy neutrons and gamma rays is insignificant.