Design and performance of a hybrid fast and thermal neutron detector

We report the characterization, calibration and performance of a custom-built hybrid detector consisting of BC501A liquid scintillator and BC702 scintillator for the detection of fast and thermal neutrons, respectively. Pulse Shape Discrimination techniques are developed to distinguish events due to γ-rays, fast and thermal neutrons. Software analysis packages are developed to derive raw neutron energy spectra from measured proton recoil spectra. The validity is demonstrated through the reconstruction of the 241AmBe(α,n) neutron spectrum.