Thermal and fast neutron detection with two CLYC scintillators

The crystal Cs
₂
LiYCl
₆
:Ce (CLYC) is a very interesting scintillator material because of its excellent energy resolution and its capability to identify gamma rays and fast/thermal neutrons. In this work, the response to gamma, thermal and fast neutrons of two CLYC 1“x1” crystals was measured: the first one, enriched with
⁶
Li at 95% is ideal for thermal neutron measurements while the second one, enriched with
⁷
Li at 99% is suitable for fast neutron measurements. The crystals were coupled to quartz window R6231-1000MOD HAMAMATSU PMTs. The thermal neutrons were measured in both detectors using an AmBe source in the gamma spectroscopy laboratory of the University of Milano, Italy. The measurements of fast neutrons were performed at Frascati (Italy) Neutron Generator facility providing neutrons of 14.1 MeV and 2.5 MeV.