Characterization of the CATRiNA neutron detector system

Abstract The Compound Array for Transfer Reactions in Nuclear Astrophysics (CATRiNA) is an array of 16 liquid deuterated-benzene (C 6 D 6 ) neutron detectors. The fast-response and pulse-shape-discrimination (PSD) capabilities of liquid scintillators allow for the extraction of neutron energies via time-of-flight and for the identification and separation of neutron/gamma interactions. In addition to these properties, deuterated liquid scintillators have a structured pulse-height spectrum with promising capabilities for neutron spectroscopy. In this paper, we report on the development and characterization of the CATRiNA neutron detector system at Florida State University (FSU). Monte-Carlo simulations and measurements with neutron and γ -ray sources, as well as mono-energetic neutrons (E n = 2.3–7.3 MeV) from in-beam measurements using the 7 Li(p,n) reaction, were performed to characterize the detectors. CATRiNA is envisioned to be used to measure several nuclear reactions like ( 3 He,n), (d,n), (p,n), relevant for nuclear structure and nuclear astrophysics studies.