The reduction in availability and inevitable increase in cost of traditional neutron detectors based on the 3He neutron capture reaction has resulted in a concerted effort to seek out new techniques and detection media to meet the needs of national nuclear security.
Traditionally, the alternative has been provided through pulse shape discrimination (PSD) using liquid plastic scintillators. However, these are not without their own inherent issues, primarily concerning user safety and ongoing maintenance.
A potential system devised to separate neutron and gamma ray pulses utilising the PSD technique takes advantage of recent improvements in silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) technology and the development of plastic scintillators exhibiting the PSD phenomena.