Response of the Li-7-enriched Cs2LiYCl6:Ce (CLYC-7) scintillator to 6–60 MeV neutrons

Abstract

We discuss a test campaign designed to irradiate the 7Li-enriched Cs2LiYCl6:Ce3+ (CLYC-7) scintillator with 6–60MeV neutrons using the cyclotron located at the Crocker Nuclear Laboratory in Davis, CA. CLYC-7 is a newly developed scintillator that exhibits the ability to make good γ-ray measurements and has the ability to detect and discriminate fast neutrons via pulse shape discrimination (PSD) while functioning as a spectrometer. This allows a single detector to make good measurement of both stimuli simultaneously. The response of this scintillation detector has been investigated below 20MeV [1] but has yet to be explored for energies greater than 20MeV. Understanding the spectral and pulse shape response across a broad energy range is important for any radiation detection instrumentation capable of detecting multiple species. At the highest energies sampled, the CLYC-7 PSD demonstrated not only the standard electron/proton separation expected in a mixed γ/n field but the ability to discriminate locally produced deuterons, tritons and α particles. We show the results from the four different neutron beam energies sampled during the experiment. Lastly, we present the results obtained for relating the light output equivalence between electrons and protons/deuterons.