Pixelated neutron image plates

Abstract

Neutron image plates (NIPs) have found widespread application as neutron detectors for single-crystal and powder diffraction, small-angle scattering and tomography. After neutron exposure, the image plate can be read out by scanning with a laser. Commercially available NIPs consist of a powder mixture of BaFBr : Eu2+ and Gd2O3 dispersed in a polymer matrix and supported by a flexible polymer sheet. Since BaFBr : Eu2+ is an excellent x-ray storage phosphor, these NIPs are particularly sensitive to γ-radiation, which is always present as a background radiation in neutron experiments. In this work we present results on NIPs consisting of KCl : Eu2+ and LiF that were fabricated into ceramic image plates in which the alkali halides act as a self-supporting matrix without the necessity for using a polymeric binder. An advantage of this type of NIP is the significantly reduced γ-sensitivity. However, the much lower neutron absorption cross section of LiF compared with Gd2O3 demands a thicker image plate for obtaining comparable neutron absorption. The greater thickness of the NIP inevitably leads to a loss in spatial resolution of the image plate. However, this reduction in resolution can be restricted by a novel image plate concept in which a ceramic structure with square cells (referred to as a ‘honeycomb’) is embedded in the NIP, resulting in a pixelated image plate. In such a NIP the read-out light is confined to the particular illuminated pixel, decoupling the spatial resolution from the optical properties of the image plate material and morphology. In this work, a comparison of experimentally determined and simulated spatial resolutions of pixelated and unstructured image plates for a fixed read-out laser intensity is presented, as well as simulations of the properties of these NIPs at higher laser powers.