Performance Evaluation of EJ-301 Liquid Scintillators at a Neutron Source Facility for Fusion and Radiation Applications
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Abstract
Organic liquid scintillators, such as EJ-301 scintillation detector, are widely used for neutron detection owing to their excellent pulse shape discrimination (PSD) capabilities. In this work, an EJ-301 scintillation detector was characterised at the neutron source facility, the Fast Neutron Laboratory (FNL) of Tohoku University, Japan, using incident neutron energies between 2.34 MeV and 5.54 MeV. The novelty of this study lies in the systematic evaluation of neutron energies using transport of ions in matter (TRIM) simulations, which account for energy losses in the Havar foil and deuterium (D2) gas target. The measured pulse-height spectra were further validated against Monte Carlo N-Particle (MCNP) calculations that incorporated the light output function and detector resolution effects. By varying the fast component integration time, an optimal value of 26 ns was determined, yielding stable neutron–gamma ray separation with figure-of-merit values up to 1.4 at 2.5 MeVee. The results provide benchmark data on EJ-301 scintillation detector performance and practical guidance for detector characterisation, supporting applications in D–D neutron spectroscopy on the Large Helical Device (LHD), in future fusion devices for fast-ion studies and in broader areas requiring reliable neutron measurements.
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References
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