Pulse shape discrimination performance of stilbene coupled to low-noise silicon photomultipliers

Pulse shape discrimination (PSD) techniques can be used to discern between neutron and gamma-ray interactions in certain organic scintillators. Traditionally, photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) have been used in organic-scintillator assemblies. However, silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) have great potential to be used in many applications in which PMTs have been predominantly used, including those utilizing PSD techniques. To evaluate the current state of the art of the SiPM technology, SensL׳s 6-mm B-Series and C-Series SiPMs were compared to a fast Hamamatsu PMT in conjunction with a 6×6×6-mm3 stilbene organic scintillator to assess the PSD performance of the detector assemblies. Measurements with a Cf-252 source were performed and a figure of merit (FOM) for discriminating between neutron and gamma-ray pulses between 100 keVee and 200 keVee was calculated for each assembly. A digital charge-integration PSD technique was used to process all measured data. The FOM for the B-Series SiPM, PMT, and C-Series SiPM was 1.37, 1.93, and 2.13, respectively. The C-Series SiPM was shown to perform as well as the PMT in the experiments.