Preliminary test of the scintillator with optical fiber (SOF) detector in a pulsed thermal neutron experiment

Abstract

A scintillator with an optical fiber detector (SOF) consists of a small amount of the ZnS(Ag) scintillator mixed with a transparent adhesive material and a thermal neutron converter (6LiF). It is tightly connected to the tip of an optical fiber. The other tip is optically coupled with a small photomultiplier. The SOF detector was assembled and checked in Institute of Nuclear Physics (IFJ PAN). A preliminary test has been done to compare the SOF detector and the 3He proportional counter which has been used for a long time in the pulsed neutron experiments carried out in the Neutron Transport Physics Laboratory (IFJ). It was find that the SOF detector may be used successfully instead of the 3He proportional detector. Small dimmensions of the detector (diameter is about 2 mm) allow to obtain accurate information on the spatial distribution of the thermal neutron flux inside a small investigated system.