Boron-loaded plastic scintillator with neutron-γ pulse shape discrimination capability

Development of the plastic scintillator with neutron sensitivity from thermal to multi-MeV and pulse shape discrimination (PSD) has been demonstrated. Incorporation of 10B-containing compounds into the plastic scintillator with PSD capability leads to detector improvement in regard to neutron detection efficiency while preserving the discrimination between neutrons and γ-rays. Effects of boron loading on scintillation and pulse shape discrimination properties are discussed. A PSD figure-of-merit value of 1.4±0.03 has been achieved for events in a thermal neutron energy domain, 50–100 keVee, for PSD plastic loaded with 5 wt.% of m-carborane.