Thermal neutron imaging with rare-earth-ion-doped LiCaAlF6 scintillators and a sealed 252Cf source

Thermal neutron imaging with Ce-doped LiCaAlF6 crystals has been performed. The prototype of the neutron imager using a Ce-doped LiCaAlF6 scintillating crystal and a position sensitive photomultiplier tube (PSPMT) which had 64 multi-channel anode was developed. The Ce-doped LiCaAlF6 single crystal was grown by the Czochralski method. A plate with dimensions of a diameter of 50×2 mm2 was cut from the grown crystal, polished, and optically coupled to PSPMT by silicone grease. The 252Cf source (<1 MBq) was sealed with 43 mm of polyethylene for neutron thermalization. Alphabet-shaped Cd pieces with a thickness of 2 mm were used as a mask for the thermal neutrons. After corrections for the pedestals and gain of each pixel, we successfully obtained two-dimensional neutron images using Ce-doped LiCaAlF6.