Detection of fast neutrons with the Medipix-2 pixel detector

Neutron radiography using thermal and fast neutrons is becoming increasingly important for scientific, technical, security and other applications. In the past, the Medipix-2 imaging detector was successfully adapted for thermal neutron imaging by our group by adding a 6LiF neutron converter covering the surface of the active part of the detector. Recently, the Medipix-2 detector was also adapted and used for fast neutron imaging. Fast neutrons are detected through proton recoil from a 1 mm thick polyethylene layer placed on the detector surface. Basic detection and imaging properties of the detector were calculated, simulated and measured. The measurements were done using an AmBe neutron source, as well as external neutron beams of the Sparrow reactor at the Czech Technical University in Prague and of the high-flux reactor at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) in Grenoble. The detector provided a reasonable signal-to-background ratio of about eight at the neutron beam of ILL's Neutrograph neutron radiography and tomography station. The estimated spatial resolution was at a level of 100 μm.