Development of a portable scintillation spectrometer with alpha-/beta- and neutron-/gamma- pulse-shape discrimination capabilities

This work presents the design and preliminary tests of a portable scintillation spectrometer dedicated to alpha-/beta- and neutron-/gamma- pulse-shape discrimination (PSD) measurements. The main features of the detector include a specially developed plastic scintillator for enhanced PSD and a digital, real-time pulse processing and analysis acquisition system specifically designed for PSD applications.The performance of the detector is tested in PSD measurement of
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Rn absorbed in the plastic scintillator as well as with a Pu/Be neutron/photon source. Excellent PSD discrimination capabilities have been observed in both alpha-/beta- and neutron-/gamma-measurements. The measurements with
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Rn absorbed in the plastic scintillator demonstrate clear separation between the beta-particles continuum and the alpha- peaks. There is practically no cross-talk between the alpha- and the beta- channels as no alpha-peaks are identified in the beta-channel and very small contribution of the beta- continuum is seen in the alpha channel.