Pulse Shape Discrimination of Shielded and Unshielded 252Cf in Organic Glass Scintillators

Organic scintillators can detect both neutrons and gamma rays, making them a common instrument used in nuclear nonproliferation applications. Pulse shape discrimination (PSD) is a well-established technique used to distinguish different types of radiation detected by organic scintillators. Scientists at Sandia National Laboratories have recently developed an organic glass scintillating material that is capable of PSD. To explore the performance of this material and its potential in nonproliferation fields, experiments using gamma and neutron sources to evaluate PSD capabilities must be conducted. In this work, we present new experimental results of organic glass rectangular scintillators of varying thickness and optical wrapping. We assess the PSD performance as a function of detector thickness and optical reflector type using a figure of merit. The organic glass scintillators with optical reflective wrappings outperform the bare organic glass scintillators.