Radiation damage on the performance of a silicon photomultiplier-coupled Cs₂LiYCl₆:Ce³⁺ detector

Abstract

A silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) coupled Cs2LiYCl6:Ce3+ (CLYC) detector was developed for neutron detection in the narrow, mixed radiation field. Studies show that the SiPM and scintillator will suffer a certain degree of damage in high-intensity irradiation environments. To evaluate the effects of the radiation damage, the detector was exposed to a zero-power research reactor. The thermal neutron exposures ranged from 0 up to 7.60 × 107 n/cm2. The performance specifications on the gamma ray and thermal neutron pulses, 6Li(n, α)3H thermal neutron peaks, energy resolutions, and pulse shape discrimination were analyzed. The results showed that the standard gamma ray and thermal neutron pulses were slightly altered, the thermal neutron peak centroid reduced by 40%, the energy resolution of the 6Li(n, α)3H thermal neutron peak deteriorated from 15% to 21%, and the figure of merit of pulse shape discrimination decreased from 1.41 to 1.16. These variation curves can be applied to evaluate and correct the detector irradiation damage.

A pulse selection algorithm for SiPM-coupled CLYC detectors

“…However, anomalous pulses, such as pile-up pulses, saturated pulses, and electronic noise, may affect the measurement results. These anomalous pulses can also decrease counting rates, leading to energy resolution degradation, worse pulse shape discrimination, and potential spectral distortions [9][10][11][12].…”