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Detection of ultracold neutrons with powdered scintillator screens

Fuente: arXiv

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors:	Krivos, M., Floyd, N. C., Morris, C. L., Tang, Z., Blatnik, M., Clayton, S. M., Cude-Woods, C. B., Fratangelo, A., Holley, A. T., Hooks, D. E., Ito, T. M., Liu, C. -Y., Makela, M., Martinez, M. R., Navazo, A. S. C., C., O'Shaughnessy, M., Pattie, R. W., Renner, E. L., Sandborn, T. A., Schaub, T. J., Singh, M., Smythe, I. L., Uhrich, F. W., Washecheck, N. K., Wang, Z., Young, A. R.
Format:	Preprint
Published:	2025
Subjects:	Instrumentation and Detectors Nuclear Experiment
Online Access:	Acceder al recurso
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_version_	1866908766143774720
author	Krivos, M. Floyd, N. C. Morris, C. L. Tang, Z. Blatnik, M. Clayton, S. M. Cude-Woods, C. B. Fratangelo, A. Holley, A. T. Hooks, D. E. Ito, T. M. Liu, C. -Y. Makela, M. Martinez, M. R. Navazo, A. S. C. C. O'Shaughnessy, M. Pattie, R. W. Renner, E. L. Sandborn, T. A. Schaub, T. J. Singh, M. Smythe, I. L. Uhrich, F. W. Washecheck, N. K. Wang, Z. Young, A. R.
author_facet	Krivos, M. Floyd, N. C. Morris, C. L. Tang, Z. Blatnik, M. Clayton, S. M. Cude-Woods, C. B. Fratangelo, A. Holley, A. T. Hooks, D. E. Ito, T. M. Liu, C. -Y. Makela, M. Martinez, M. R. Navazo, A. S. C. C. O'Shaughnessy, M. Pattie, R. W. Renner, E. L. Sandborn, T. A. Schaub, T. J. Singh, M. Smythe, I. L. Uhrich, F. W. Washecheck, N. K. Wang, Z. Young, A. R.
contents	Zinc sulfide (ZnS:Ag) scintillators coated with a thin 10B layer are widely used for ultracold neutron (UCN) detection, but their application is limited by long decay times and significant phosphorescence. We investigated two possible replacement scintillators: yttrium aluminum perovskite (YAP:Ce) and lutetium ttrium orthosilicate (LYSO:Ce). Both exhibit decay times on the order of 30-40 ns, which can help reduce dead time in high-count-rate experiments. YAP:Ce showed approximately 60% lower phosphorescence than ZnS:Ag after 2 days and detected about 20% more UCN. In contrast, LYSO:Ce exhibited higher phosphorescence and produced fewer UCN counts compared to both ZnS:Ag and YAP:Ce. While both tested scintillators are capable UCN detectors, YAP:Ce consistently outperformed LYSO:Ce across all measured performance metrics.
format	Preprint
id	arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_04332
institution	arXiv
publishDate	2025
record_format	arxiv
spellingShingle	Detection of ultracold neutrons with powdered scintillator screens Krivos, M. Floyd, N. C. Morris, C. L. Tang, Z. Blatnik, M. Clayton, S. M. Cude-Woods, C. B. Fratangelo, A. Holley, A. T. Hooks, D. E. Ito, T. M. Liu, C. -Y. Makela, M. Martinez, M. R. Navazo, A. S. C. C. O'Shaughnessy, M. Pattie, R. W. Renner, E. L. Sandborn, T. A. Schaub, T. J. Singh, M. Smythe, I. L. Uhrich, F. W. Washecheck, N. K. Wang, Z. Young, A. R. Instrumentation and Detectors Nuclear Experiment Zinc sulfide (ZnS:Ag) scintillators coated with a thin 10B layer are widely used for ultracold neutron (UCN) detection, but their application is limited by long decay times and significant phosphorescence. We investigated two possible replacement scintillators: yttrium aluminum perovskite (YAP:Ce) and lutetium ttrium orthosilicate (LYSO:Ce). Both exhibit decay times on the order of 30-40 ns, which can help reduce dead time in high-count-rate experiments. YAP:Ce showed approximately 60% lower phosphorescence than ZnS:Ag after 2 days and detected about 20% more UCN. In contrast, LYSO:Ce exhibited higher phosphorescence and produced fewer UCN counts compared to both ZnS:Ag and YAP:Ce. While both tested scintillators are capable UCN detectors, YAP:Ce consistently outperformed LYSO:Ce across all measured performance metrics.
title	Detection of ultracold neutrons with powdered scintillator screens
topic	Instrumentation and Detectors Nuclear Experiment
url	https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.04332