NE213/BC501A scintillator−lightguide assembly response to 241Am−Be neutrons: An MCNPX−PHOTRACK hybrid code simulation

• The response of NE213 scintillator with/without lightguides to Am–Be neutrons has been simulated.
• The MCNPX–PHOTRACK code has been used for simulation studies in order to model radio-optical properties.
• The measured and simulated spectra for an NE213 scintillator exposed to Am–Be source represent a good agreement.

The response of an NE213 (or its BICRON equivalent, BC501A) scintillator attached to different sizes of polished/painted lightguides when exposed to 241Am–Be neutrons has been simulated. This kind of simulation basically needs both particle and light transports: the transport of neutrons and neutron-induced charged particles such as alphas, protons, carbon nuclei and so on has been undertaken using MCNPX whilst the scintillation light transport has been performed with PHOTRACK codes. The comparison between simulated and experimental response functions of NE213 attached to different sizes of polished/painted lightguides and also the influence of length/covering of lightguide on the detection efficiency and uniformity of the scintillator–lightguide assembly response have been studied.