Computational investigation of arranged scintillating particle composites for fast neutron detection

Abstract Composite materials have the potential to play an important role in enabling high-performance and cost-effective neutron detectors for fundamental science, global security, and dosimetry applications. This study presents neutron and gamma transport simulation results on composites consisting of 6 Li-containing GS20 scintillator glass particles arranged in an organic matrix. These composites achieve high sensitivity for neutrons while suppressing signals from gamma rays. The simulations successfully identified optimal composite parameters such as particle size, geometry, and inter-particle pitch. This information is key to the subsequent fabrication and scale-up of the desired GS20-in-acrylic composite. The simulation results presented in this paper demonstrate that arranged composites can provide high neutron detection efficiency with gamma misidentification values of 6 gamma rays, assuming irradiation with a 252 Cf spontaneous fission source.