A 64 × 64 cm area position-sensitive scintillation neutron detector as an alternative to helium-3 gas based detector

A two-dimensional scintillation neutron detector that has neutron-sensitive area of 64 × 64 cm
²
was developed for thermal neutron scattering instruments. The detector extensively used ZnS scintillation screens doped with
¹⁰
B or
⁶
Li and wavelength shifting fibers technology. The detector is designed to have a pixel size of 20 × 20 mm
²
to cover a large area with a small number of electronics channel for demonstration. The scintillation light was read out from both sides of each WLS fiber in order to increase a collected light. The prototype detector exhibited a detection efficiency of 50% for 1.9-Å neutrons, which was similar to the detector developed in the past that has a neutron-sensitive size of 26 × 26 cm
²
.