A fluorocarbon plastic scintillator for neutron detection: Proof of concept

In our paper, we propose a new pentafluorostyrene-based plastic scintillator (F-plastic) which can be a good alternative to the abovementioned scintillators. The fluorine content of F-plastic is equal to 3.73×1022 atoms/cm3, and the F/H ratio is 1.66. The fluorescence and radioluminescence spectra of the F-plastic display an emission maximum centered approximately at 420 nm. The light output measured for gamma rays is 3100±300 photons/MeV, which is approximately 30% of the light output of the standard EJ-200 plastic scintillator and is similar to EJ-313. The response of the F-plastic to neutrons and gamma rays is presented and compared to the EJ-200 scintillator. Additionally, the n/γ pulse shape discrimination (PSD) was measured and showed improvement of the discrimination at neutron energies as high as 3 MeV.