A new response matrix for a 6LiI scintillator BSS system

A new response matrix was calculated for a Bonner Sphere Spectrometer (BSS) with a 6LiI(Eu) scintillator, using the Monte Carlo N-Particle radiation transport code MCNPX. Responses were calculated for 6 spheres and the bare detector, for energies varying from 1.059E(−9) MeV to 105.9 MeV, with 20 equal-log(E)-width bins per energy decade, totalizing 221 energy groups. A comparison was done among the responses obtained in this work and other published elsewhere, for the same detector model. The calculated response functions were inserted in the response input file of the MAXED code and used to unfold the total and direct neutron spectra generated by the 241Am-Be source of the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid (UPM). These spectra were compared with those obtained using the same unfolding code with the Mares and Schraube matrix response.