A HIGH SPEED, HIGH EFFICIENCY PROTON RECOIL SCINTILLATOR

MANY VARIETIES OF PROTON RECOIL SCINTILLATORS ARE CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FOR FAST NEUTRON SPECTROSCOPY. VIRTUALLY ALL OF THEM EMPLOY CARBON-BASED ORGANIC SCINTILLATORS BECAUSE OF THE RELATIVELY HIGH PROPORTION OF HYDROGEN CONTAINED BY THESE MATERIALS. A SILICON-BASED LIQUID SCINTILLATOR THAT HAS THE POTENTIAL FOR BOTH HIGHER SPEED AND HIGHER LIGHT OUTPUT THAN ORGANIC SCINTILLATORS HAS RECENTLY BEEN DEVELOPED. ITS HIGH RATIO OF HYDROGEN ATOMS TO OTHER ATOMS INDICATES THAT IT COULD PROVIDE THE BASIS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN EXTREMELY HIGH SPEED, HIGH SENSITIVITY PROTON RECOIL SCINTILLATOR. IN INITIAL STUDIES, THIS FIRST GENERATION SILICON-BASED SCINTILLATOR HAS BEEN SHOWN TO BE 10 TO 15 TIMES FASTER THAN ORGANIC SCINTILLATORS, AND ITS LIGHT OUTPUT IS 5 TO 10% BETTER THAN THE BICRON BC-501 ORGANIC SCINTILLATOR. THE COMBINATION OF EXCEPTIONALLY HIGHSPEED AND HIGH LIGHT OUTPUT OF THE SILICON-BASED SCINTILLATOR COULD RESULT IN EXTREMELY SIGNIFICANT FAST NEUTRON DETECTOR TECHNOLOGY. IN PHASE I, RESEARCH AIMS TO PROVE THE FEASIBILITY OF AN EXTREMELY HIGH SPEED, HIGH EFFICIENCY POLYSILANE-BASED PROTON RECOIL SCINTILLATOR. THERESEARCH IS DIRECTED AT THE QUANTIFICATION OF THE SCINTILLATOR RESPONSE TO FAST NEUTRONS AND GAMMAS.