The SENSER CLYC experiment

The Space and Endo-Atmospheric Nudet (Nuclear Detonation) Surveillance Experimentation and Risk-Reduction (SENSER) project, scheduled to launch to geosynchronous orbit in 2019, contains several experimental and demonstration systems developed by Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories to assess next-generation technologies for space-based national security missions. The CLYC experiment in SENSER will examine Cs
₂
LiYCl
₆
(CLYC) scintillators in the space environment. CLYC enables neutron and gamma-ray detection in a single instrument and better gamma energy resolution than traditional scintillators. The CLYC experiment will also investigate silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) photodetectors for additional SWaP reduction. In this paper, we present the CLYC experiment objectives, design, and results of initial laboratory tests of the partially-built system.