An organosilicon-loaded plastic scintillator synthesized for neutron/gamma discrimination

摘要: In this work, we report a scintillator used for neutron/gamma discrimination, which consists of a polyvinyltoluene matrix loaded with monomers of dimethoxydiphenylsilane (DDS), and fluor dyes, namely 2,5-diphenyloxazole and 7-diethylamino-4-methylcoumarin as the primary fluorophore and wavelength-shifting, respectively. The DDS is an organosilicon compound containing double benzene rings that facilitates fluorescence emission and radiation resistance. Several measurements were performed to explore the scintillators optical and detection properties, including $^{238}$Pu-Be neutron radiation and relative light yield conducted by ¹³⁷Cs gamma-ray source. It is found that the synthesized plastic scintillators are capable of excellently discriminating between neutron and gamma-rays. They exhibit a light output that are comparable to the commercial scintillator (EJ-200). The scintillators are low-cost productive, highly transparent, and somewhat soft but hard enough for post-production processing (machine cutting and polishing). This design may contribute a new strategy for highly efficient neutron/gamma discrimination organic scintillators.