A New Scintillator for Fast Neutron Detection: Single-Crystal ${\rm CeCl}_{3}({\rm CH}_{3}{\rm OH})_{4}$

A new scintillator material for the detection of fast neutrons that consists of a methanol adduct of cerium trichloride with the composition CeCl
₃
(CH
₃
OH)
₄
has been characterized using 14.1 MeV neutrons from a deuterium-tritium neutron generator and fast neutrons from a bare instrumented
²⁵²
Cf source. The timing resolution of the scintillator for fast neutrons was found to be 1~ ns. Neutron interactions in the CeCl
₃
(CH
₃
OH)
₄
composition were simulated using the MCNP-PoliMi code. These simulations indicate that proton recoils account for most of the deposited energy in CeCl
₃
(CH
₃
OH)
₄
. The crystalline molecular adduct CeCl
₃
(CH
₃
OH)
₄
represents a rare-earth metal-organic scintillator that can be applied to both fast neutron and gamma-ray detection.