Polymethyl methacrylate(PMMA)is an optically transparent thermoplastic with favorable processing conditions.In this study,a series of plastic scintillators are prepared via thermal polymerization,and the impact of PMM...Polymethyl methacrylate(PMMA)is an optically transparent thermoplastic with favorable processing conditions.In this study,a series of plastic scintillators are prepared via thermal polymerization,and the impact of PMMA content on their transparency and pulse shape discrimination(PSD)ability is investigated.The fabricated samples,comprising a polystyrene(PS)-PMMA matrix,30.0 wt%2,5-diphenyloxazole(PPO),and 0.2 wt%9,10-diphenylanthracene(DPA),exhibit high transparency with transmissivity ranging from 70.0 to 90.0%(above 415.0 nm)and demonstrate excellent n/γdiscrimination capability.Transparency increased with increasing PMMA content across the entire visible light spectrum.However,the PSD performance gradually deteriorated when the aromatic matrix was replaced with PMMA.The scintillator containing 20.0 wt%PMMA demonstrated the best stability concerning PSD properties and relative light yields.展开更多
Doping with Ga effectively enhances the crystal quality and optical detection efficiency of zinc oxide(Zn O)single crystals,which has attracted considerable research interest in radiation detection.The application of ...Doping with Ga effectively enhances the crystal quality and optical detection efficiency of zinc oxide(Zn O)single crystals,which has attracted considerable research interest in radiation detection.The application of Zn O:Ga(GZO)in nuclear energy is particularly significant and fascinating at the fundamental level,enabling neutron/gamma discrimination while preserving the response time properties of the single crystal in sub-nanoseconds,maximizing the effective counting rate of the pulsed radiation field.In this study,the single-particle waveform discrimination characteristics of GZO were evaluated for five charged particles(α,β,H^(+),Li^(+),and O^(8+)and two prevalent uncharged particles(neutrons and gamma rays).Based on the timecorrelation single-photon counting(TCSPC)method,the luminescence decay time constants of the charged particles in the GZO crystal were determined as follows:1.21 ns for H^(+),1.50 ns for Li^(+),1.70 ns for O^(8+),1.56 ns forαparticles,and 1.09 ns forβparticles.Visible differences in the excitation time spectra curves were observed.Using the conventional time-domain or frequency-domain waveform discrimination techniques,waveform discrimination of 14.9 Me V neutrons and secondary gamma rays generated by the CPNG-6 device based on GZO scintillation was successfully implemented.The neutron signal constituted 77.93%of the total,indicating that GZO exhibited superior neutron/gamma discrimination sensitivity compared with that of a commercial stilbene crystal.Using the neutron/gamma screening outcomes,we reconstructed the voltage pulse height,charge height,and neutron multiplication time spectra of the pulsed neutron radiation field.The reconstructed neutron multiplication time spectrum exhibited a deviation of less than 3%relative to the result obtained using a commercial stilbene scintillator.This is the first report in the open literature on the neutron/gamma discrimination and reconstruction of Zn O pulsed radiation-field information.展开更多
To enhance the accuracy of 2πα and 2πβ particle surface emission rate measurements and address the identification issues of nuclides in conventional methods, this study introduces two artificial neural network(ANN...To enhance the accuracy of 2πα and 2πβ particle surface emission rate measurements and address the identification issues of nuclides in conventional methods, this study introduces two artificial neural network(ANN) algorithms: back-propagation(BP) and genetic algorithm-based back-propagation(GA-BP). These algorithms classify pulse signals from distinct α and β particles. Their discrimination efficacy is assessed by simulating standard pulse signals and those produced by contaminated sources, mixing α and β particles within the detector. This study initially showcases energy spectrum measurement outcomes, subsequently tests the ANNs on the measurement and validation datasets, and contrasts the pulse shape discrimination efficacy of both algorithms. Experimental findings reveal that the proportional counter's energy resolution is not ideal, thus rendering energy analysis insufficient for distinguishing between 2πα and 2πβ particles. The BP neural network realizes approximately 99% accuracy for 2πα particles and approximately 95% for 2πβ particles, thus surpassing the GA-BP's performance. Additionally, the results suggest enhancing β particle discrimination accuracy by increasing the digital acquisition card's threshold lower limit. This study offers an advanced solution for the 2πα and 2πβ surface emission rate measurement method, presenting superior adaptability and scalability over conventional techniques.展开更多
Linear Alkyl Benzene （LAB） is a promising liquid scintillator solvent in neutrino experiments because it has many appealing properties. The timing properties of LAB-based liquid scintillator have been studied throug...Linear Alkyl Benzene （LAB） is a promising liquid scintillator solvent in neutrino experiments because it has many appealing properties. The timing properties of LAB-based liquid scintillator have been studied through ultraviolet and ionization excitation in this study. The decay time of LAB, PPO and bis-MSB is found to be 48.6 ns, 1.55 ns and 1.5 ns, respectively. A model can describe the absorption and re-emission process between PPO and bis-MSB perfectly. The energy transfer time between LAB and PPO with different concentrations can be obtained via another model. We also show that the LAB-based liquid scintillator has good （n, γ） and （α, γ） discrimination power.展开更多
In this study,the anti-noise performance of a pulse-coupled neural network(PCNN)was investigated in the neutron and gamma-ray(n-γ)discrimination field.The experiments were conducted in two groups.In the first group,r...In this study,the anti-noise performance of a pulse-coupled neural network(PCNN)was investigated in the neutron and gamma-ray(n-γ)discrimination field.The experiments were conducted in two groups.In the first group,radiation pulse signals were pre-processed using a Fourier filter to reduce the original noise in the signals,whereas in the second group,the original noise was left untouched to simulate an extremely high-noise scenario.For each part,artificial Gaussian noise with different intensity levels was added to the signals prior to the discrimination process.In the aforementioned conditions,the performance of the PCNN was evaluated and compared with five other commonly used methods of n-γdiscrimination:(1)zero crossing,(2)charge comparison,(3)vector projection,(4)falling edge percentage slope,and(5)frequency gradient analysis.The experimental results showed that the PCNN method significantly outperforms other methods with outstanding FoM-value at all noise levels.Furthermore,the fluctuations in FoM-value of PCNN were significantly better than those obtained via other methods at most noise levels and only slightly worse than those obtained via the charge comparison and zerocrossing methods under extreme noise conditions.Additionally,the changing patterns and fluctuations of the FoMvalue were evaluated under different noise conditions.Hence,based on the results,the parameter selection strategy of the PCNN was presented.In conclusion,the PCNN method is suitable for use in high-noise application scenarios for n-γdiscrimination because of its stability and remarkable discrimination performance.It does not rely on strict parameter settings and can realize satisfactory performance over a wide parameter range.展开更多
Pulse pile-up is a problem in nuclear spectroscopy and nuclear reaction studies that occurs when two pulses overlap and distort each other,degrading the quality of energy and timing information.Different methods have ...Pulse pile-up is a problem in nuclear spectroscopy and nuclear reaction studies that occurs when two pulses overlap and distort each other,degrading the quality of energy and timing information.Different methods have been used for pile-up rejection,both digital and analogue,but some pile-up events may contain pulses of interest and need to be reconstructed.The paper proposes a new method for reconstructing pile-up events acquired with a neutron detector array(NEDA)using an one-dimensional convolutional autoencoder(1D-CAE).The datasets for training and testing the 1D-CAE are created from data acquired from the NEDA.The new pile-up signal reconstruction method is evaluated from the point of view of how similar the reconstructed signals are to the original ones.Furthermore,it is analysed considering the result of the neutron-gamma discrimination based on charge comparison,comparing the result obtained from original and reconstructed signals.展开更多
To reduce the experimental uncertainty in the 235 U resonance energy region and improve the detection efficiency for neutron total cross section measurements compared with those obtained with the neutron total cross s...To reduce the experimental uncertainty in the 235 U resonance energy region and improve the detection efficiency for neutron total cross section measurements compared with those obtained with the neutron total cross section spectrometer(NTOX), a dedicated lithium-containing scintillation detector has been developed on the Back-n beam line at the China Spallation Neutron Source. The Fast Scintillator-based Neutron Total Cross Section(FAST) spectrometer has been designed based on a Cs2Li La Br6(CLLB) scintillator considering the γ-ray flash and neutron environment on the Back-n beam line. The response of the CLLB scintillator to neutrons and γ-rays was evaluated with different 6Li/7 Li abundance ratios using Geant4. The neutron-γdiscrimination performance of the CLLB has been simulated considering different scintillation parameters, physical designs,and light readout modes. A cubic 6Li-enriched( > 90%) CLLB scintillator, which has a thickness of 4-9 mm and side length of no less than 50 mm to cover the Φ 50 mm neutron beam at the spectrometer position, has been proposed coupling to a side readout SiPM array to construct the FAST spectrometer. The developed simulation techniques for neutron-γ discrimination performance could provide technical support for other neutron-induced reaction measurements on the Back-n beam line.展开更多
Purpose Radon is a noble gas,which endangers our health.The liquid scintillator is one of the detector materials used to measure radon in the environment.But there are challenges in measuring radon using a liquid scin...Purpose Radon is a noble gas,which endangers our health.The liquid scintillator is one of the detector materials used to measure radon in the environment.But there are challenges in measuring radon using a liquid scintillator,such as independent manual operation and long measurement periods.Methods and Results We propose a liquid scintillator detector for the rapid measurement of radon,which is composed of a breathable liquid scintillator probe and photomultiplier tube.Cascade decay recognition and pulse shape discrimination(PSD)were used to select radon events.241 Am4(α)and 90Sr(β)source calibration was used to optimize the PSDfigure of merit of the liquid scintillator,and a 232Th(220Rn)diffusion source was used to verify the function of this novel detector for measuring radon.Conclusion The detector had an integrated design for sampling and measurement,which simplified the measurement steps.Thus,this novel liquid scintillator detector demonstrated promise for use in radon-detection systems.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.12027813)the fund of National Innovation Center of Radiation Application of China(Nos.KFZC2020020501,KFZC2021010101).
文摘Polymethyl methacrylate(PMMA)is an optically transparent thermoplastic with favorable processing conditions.In this study,a series of plastic scintillators are prepared via thermal polymerization,and the impact of PMMA content on their transparency and pulse shape discrimination(PSD)ability is investigated.The fabricated samples,comprising a polystyrene(PS)-PMMA matrix,30.0 wt%2,5-diphenyloxazole(PPO),and 0.2 wt%9,10-diphenylanthracene(DPA),exhibit high transparency with transmissivity ranging from 70.0 to 90.0%(above 415.0 nm)and demonstrate excellent n/γdiscrimination capability.Transparency increased with increasing PMMA content across the entire visible light spectrum.However,the PSD performance gradually deteriorated when the aromatic matrix was replaced with PMMA.The scintillator containing 20.0 wt%PMMA demonstrated the best stability concerning PSD properties and relative light yields.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.12205370,62204198,12305205,and 12105230)Young Talents Promotion Program of Shaanxi Provincial Science and Technology Association(No.20220514)。
文摘Doping with Ga effectively enhances the crystal quality and optical detection efficiency of zinc oxide(Zn O)single crystals,which has attracted considerable research interest in radiation detection.The application of Zn O:Ga(GZO)in nuclear energy is particularly significant and fascinating at the fundamental level,enabling neutron/gamma discrimination while preserving the response time properties of the single crystal in sub-nanoseconds,maximizing the effective counting rate of the pulsed radiation field.In this study,the single-particle waveform discrimination characteristics of GZO were evaluated for five charged particles(α,β,H^(+),Li^(+),and O^(8+)and two prevalent uncharged particles(neutrons and gamma rays).Based on the timecorrelation single-photon counting(TCSPC)method,the luminescence decay time constants of the charged particles in the GZO crystal were determined as follows:1.21 ns for H^(+),1.50 ns for Li^(+),1.70 ns for O^(8+),1.56 ns forαparticles,and 1.09 ns forβparticles.Visible differences in the excitation time spectra curves were observed.Using the conventional time-domain or frequency-domain waveform discrimination techniques,waveform discrimination of 14.9 Me V neutrons and secondary gamma rays generated by the CPNG-6 device based on GZO scintillation was successfully implemented.The neutron signal constituted 77.93%of the total,indicating that GZO exhibited superior neutron/gamma discrimination sensitivity compared with that of a commercial stilbene crystal.Using the neutron/gamma screening outcomes,we reconstructed the voltage pulse height,charge height,and neutron multiplication time spectra of the pulsed neutron radiation field.The reconstructed neutron multiplication time spectrum exhibited a deviation of less than 3%relative to the result obtained using a commercial stilbene scintillator.This is the first report in the open literature on the neutron/gamma discrimination and reconstruction of Zn O pulsed radiation-field information.
文摘To enhance the accuracy of 2πα and 2πβ particle surface emission rate measurements and address the identification issues of nuclides in conventional methods, this study introduces two artificial neural network(ANN) algorithms: back-propagation(BP) and genetic algorithm-based back-propagation(GA-BP). These algorithms classify pulse signals from distinct α and β particles. Their discrimination efficacy is assessed by simulating standard pulse signals and those produced by contaminated sources, mixing α and β particles within the detector. This study initially showcases energy spectrum measurement outcomes, subsequently tests the ANNs on the measurement and validation datasets, and contrasts the pulse shape discrimination efficacy of both algorithms. Experimental findings reveal that the proportional counter's energy resolution is not ideal, thus rendering energy analysis insufficient for distinguishing between 2πα and 2πβ particles. The BP neural network realizes approximately 99% accuracy for 2πα particles and approximately 95% for 2πβ particles, thus surpassing the GA-BP's performance. Additionally, the results suggest enhancing β particle discrimination accuracy by increasing the digital acquisition card's threshold lower limit. This study offers an advanced solution for the 2πα and 2πβ surface emission rate measurement method, presenting superior adaptability and scalability over conventional techniques.
基金Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (10890094, 11011120080)
文摘Linear Alkyl Benzene （LAB） is a promising liquid scintillator solvent in neutrino experiments because it has many appealing properties. The timing properties of LAB-based liquid scintillator have been studied through ultraviolet and ionization excitation in this study. The decay time of LAB, PPO and bis-MSB is found to be 48.6 ns, 1.55 ns and 1.5 ns, respectively. A model can describe the absorption and re-emission process between PPO and bis-MSB perfectly. The energy transfer time between LAB and PPO with different concentrations can be obtained via another model. We also show that the LAB-based liquid scintillator has good （n, γ） and （α, γ） discrimination power.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.4210040255,U19A2086)the Sichuan Science and Technology Program(No.2021JDRC0108)。
文摘In this study,the anti-noise performance of a pulse-coupled neural network(PCNN)was investigated in the neutron and gamma-ray(n-γ)discrimination field.The experiments were conducted in two groups.In the first group,radiation pulse signals were pre-processed using a Fourier filter to reduce the original noise in the signals,whereas in the second group,the original noise was left untouched to simulate an extremely high-noise scenario.For each part,artificial Gaussian noise with different intensity levels was added to the signals prior to the discrimination process.In the aforementioned conditions,the performance of the PCNN was evaluated and compared with five other commonly used methods of n-γdiscrimination:(1)zero crossing,(2)charge comparison,(3)vector projection,(4)falling edge percentage slope,and(5)frequency gradient analysis.The experimental results showed that the PCNN method significantly outperforms other methods with outstanding FoM-value at all noise levels.Furthermore,the fluctuations in FoM-value of PCNN were significantly better than those obtained via other methods at most noise levels and only slightly worse than those obtained via the charge comparison and zerocrossing methods under extreme noise conditions.Additionally,the changing patterns and fluctuations of the FoMvalue were evaluated under different noise conditions.Hence,based on the results,the parameter selection strategy of the PCNN was presented.In conclusion,the PCNN method is suitable for use in high-noise application scenarios for n-γdiscrimination because of its stability and remarkable discrimination performance.It does not rely on strict parameter settings and can realize satisfactory performance over a wide parameter range.
基金partially supported by MICIU MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033Spain with grant PID2020-118265GB-C42,-C44,PRTR-C17.I01+1 种基金Generalitat Valenciana,Spain with grant CIPROM/2022/54,ASFAE/2022/031,CIAPOS/2021/114the EU NextGenerationEU,ESF funds,and the National Science Centre (NCN),Poland (grant No.2020/39/D/ST2/00466)
文摘Pulse pile-up is a problem in nuclear spectroscopy and nuclear reaction studies that occurs when two pulses overlap and distort each other,degrading the quality of energy and timing information.Different methods have been used for pile-up rejection,both digital and analogue,but some pile-up events may contain pulses of interest and need to be reconstructed.The paper proposes a new method for reconstructing pile-up events acquired with a neutron detector array(NEDA)using an one-dimensional convolutional autoencoder(1D-CAE).The datasets for training and testing the 1D-CAE are created from data acquired from the NEDA.The new pile-up signal reconstruction method is evaluated from the point of view of how similar the reconstructed signals are to the original ones.Furthermore,it is analysed considering the result of the neutron-gamma discrimination based on charge comparison,comparing the result obtained from original and reconstructed signals.
基金supported by the Key Laboratory of Nuclear Data Foundation(No.JCKY2022201C153)National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.11505216),Educational Commission of Hunan Province of China(No.19B488)Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province of China(Nos.2021JJ40444 and 2020RC3054).
文摘To reduce the experimental uncertainty in the 235 U resonance energy region and improve the detection efficiency for neutron total cross section measurements compared with those obtained with the neutron total cross section spectrometer(NTOX), a dedicated lithium-containing scintillation detector has been developed on the Back-n beam line at the China Spallation Neutron Source. The Fast Scintillator-based Neutron Total Cross Section(FAST) spectrometer has been designed based on a Cs2Li La Br6(CLLB) scintillator considering the γ-ray flash and neutron environment on the Back-n beam line. The response of the CLLB scintillator to neutrons and γ-rays was evaluated with different 6Li/7 Li abundance ratios using Geant4. The neutron-γdiscrimination performance of the CLLB has been simulated considering different scintillation parameters, physical designs,and light readout modes. A cubic 6Li-enriched( > 90%) CLLB scintillator, which has a thickness of 4-9 mm and side length of no less than 50 mm to cover the Φ 50 mm neutron beam at the spectrometer position, has been proposed coupling to a side readout SiPM array to construct the FAST spectrometer. The developed simulation techniques for neutron-γ discrimination performance could provide technical support for other neutron-induced reaction measurements on the Back-n beam line.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(11775252).
文摘Purpose Radon is a noble gas,which endangers our health.The liquid scintillator is one of the detector materials used to measure radon in the environment.But there are challenges in measuring radon using a liquid scintillator,such as independent manual operation and long measurement periods.Methods and Results We propose a liquid scintillator detector for the rapid measurement of radon,which is composed of a breathable liquid scintillator probe and photomultiplier tube.Cascade decay recognition and pulse shape discrimination(PSD)were used to select radon events.241 Am4(α)and 90Sr(β)source calibration was used to optimize the PSDfigure of merit of the liquid scintillator,and a 232Th(220Rn)diffusion source was used to verify the function of this novel detector for measuring radon.Conclusion The detector had an integrated design for sampling and measurement,which simplified the measurement steps.Thus,this novel liquid scintillator detector demonstrated promise for use in radon-detection systems.
