HIGH PERFORMANCE NEUTRON DETECTOR WITH NEAR ZERO GAMMA CROSS TALK
First Claim
1. A scintillator detector comprising:
- at least one scintillator layer comprising 6LiF and one or more phosphor materials mixed in a binder medium;
at least one photosensor having an optical input and an electrical signal output;
at least one light guide medium, optically coupled to the at least one scintillator layer and to the optical input of the at least one photosensor, for coupling one or more light pulses emitted from neutron particles interacting with scintillator material of the at least one scintillator layer into the at least one light guide medium and thereby guiding one or more light pulses to the optical input of the at least one photosensor that in response generates one or more electrical pulses in an electrical sensor signal;
a pre-amp circuit having an amplifier signal input that is electrically coupled to the electrical signal output of the at least one photosensor, and an output, the pre-amp circuit being configured to provide at its output an electrical amplifier signal having an optimum electrical signal pulse shape closely tracking the pulse duration and shape of each of one or more electrical pulses of the electrical sensor signal corresponding to respective one or more light pulses emitted from the scintillation material; and
an analog to digital converter having an input electrically coupled to the output of the pre-amp circuit, and an output for providing a digital sensor signal corresponding to the electrical amplifier signal; and
digital signal processing circuits, having an input electrically coupled to the output of the analog to digital converter, for performing pulse shape differentiation on the digital sensor signal based on one or more neutron signal shape filters and one or more gamma signal shape filters that are applied to the digital sensor signal to reduce, eliminate, or separate gamma pulse signal detection from neutron pulse signal detection by the scintillator neutron detector.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A scintillator system is provided to detect the presence of fissile material and radioactive material. One or more neutron detectors are based on 6LiF mixed in a binder medium with scintillator material, and are optically coupled to one or more wavelength shifting fiber optic light guide media that have a tapered portion extending from the scintillator material to guide light from the scintillator material to a photosensor at the tapered portion. An electrical output of the photosensor is connected to an input of a first pre-amp circuit designed to operate close to a pulse shape and duration of a light pulse from the scintillator material, without signal distortion. The scintillator material includes a set of scintillation layers connected to the wavelength shifting fiber optic light guide media that guide light to the photosensor. Moderator material is applied around the set of scintillation layers increasing detector efficiency.
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Citations
44 Claims
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1. A scintillator detector comprising:
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at least one scintillator layer comprising 6LiF and one or more phosphor materials mixed in a binder medium; at least one photosensor having an optical input and an electrical signal output; at least one light guide medium, optically coupled to the at least one scintillator layer and to the optical input of the at least one photosensor, for coupling one or more light pulses emitted from neutron particles interacting with scintillator material of the at least one scintillator layer into the at least one light guide medium and thereby guiding one or more light pulses to the optical input of the at least one photosensor that in response generates one or more electrical pulses in an electrical sensor signal; a pre-amp circuit having an amplifier signal input that is electrically coupled to the electrical signal output of the at least one photosensor, and an output, the pre-amp circuit being configured to provide at its output an electrical amplifier signal having an optimum electrical signal pulse shape closely tracking the pulse duration and shape of each of one or more electrical pulses of the electrical sensor signal corresponding to respective one or more light pulses emitted from the scintillation material; and an analog to digital converter having an input electrically coupled to the output of the pre-amp circuit, and an output for providing a digital sensor signal corresponding to the electrical amplifier signal; and digital signal processing circuits, having an input electrically coupled to the output of the analog to digital converter, for performing pulse shape differentiation on the digital sensor signal based on one or more neutron signal shape filters and one or more gamma signal shape filters that are applied to the digital sensor signal to reduce, eliminate, or separate gamma pulse signal detection from neutron pulse signal detection by the scintillator neutron detector. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A scintillator detector system comprising:
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an information processing system; and at least one neutron and/or gamma detector, coupled with the information processing system, the at least one detector comprising; a plurality of scintillator layers comprising 6LiF and one or more phosphor materials mixed in a binder medium; a photosensor electrically coupled to a sensor circuit; at least one light guide medium optically coupled to the plurality of scintillator layers and to the photosensor for coupling light photons emitted from neutron particles interacting with scintillator material in the plurality of scintillator layers into the at least one light guide medium and thereby to the photosensor; a sensor circuit having an electrical signal input electrically coupled to an electrical signal output from the photosensor; and a moderator material disposed externally surrounding the plurality of scintillator layers, and without moderator material being interposed between any two of the plurality of scintillator layers of the at least one neutron and/or gamma detector.
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23. A gamma and/or neutron detector system, comprising one or more of any of the following:
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a. one or more neutron detectors based on 6LiF mixed in a binder medium with first scintillator material, that are optically coupled to one or more first wavelength shifting fiber optic light guide media, and have a tapered portion of the one or more first wavelength shifting fiber optic light guide media extending from at least one end of the first scintillator material to guide light from the first scintillator material to a first photosensor at the tapered portion, and wherein an electrical output of the first photosensor is connected to an input of a first pre-amp circuit designed to operate close to a pulse rise time, pulse duration, and pulse decay time, of light pulses generated by the first scintillator material, without adding distortion; and b. one or more gamma detectors based on second scintillator material, that are optically coupled to one or more second wavelength shifting fiber optic light guide media, and have a tapered portion of the second wavelength shifting fiber optic light guide media extending from at least one end of the second scintillator material to guide light from the second scintillator material to a second photosensor at the tapered portion, and wherein an electrical output of the second photosensor is connected to an input of a second preamp circuit designed to operate close to a pulse rise time, pulse duration, and pulse decay time, of light pulses generated by the second scintillator material, without adding distortion. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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Specification