Development of two-dimensional position sensitive detector systems using multi-pixel photon counters for neutron experiments

Neutron scattering experiments are indispensable to the structural analysis of many types of condensed matter and in the development of advanced materials. A high resolution detector system and a high counting rate detector system, both utilizing a neutron scintillator and multi-pixel photon counters (MPPCs), have been developed at the High-Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK). These systems will be used in the BL16 and BL06 neutron scattering instruments at the Material and Life Science Facility (MLF) in the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC). The high resolution detector is an MPPC position-sensitive detector (MPS) with a 105×128 mm2 detection area and has positional resolution of 1 mm. The high counting rate detector is an MPPC Pixel detector (MPIX) with a 320×40 mm2 detection area. The maximum counting rate is 4 million counts per second (Mcps).