Fast neutron detectors with silicon photomultiplier readouts

摘要： This work summarizes a fast neutron detection performance of two different silicon photomultipliers from two manufacturers. The first SiPM (MAPD-3NK) from Zecotek Photonics consists of deeply buried cells with the active area 3.7x3.7 mm2. The second one (MPPC-S12572-010P) from Hamamatsu, however, consists of surface cell structure which the active area is 3x3 mm2. Both SiPMs have the same pixel density of 10000 mm-2. Both SiPMs coupled to Stilbene (5*5*5 mm3) and p-terphenyl (5*5*5 mm3) plastic scintillators were evaluated for detection ability of fast neutrons using a PuBe neutron source. Charge comparison and zero crossing neutron/gamma discrimination techniques were performed for these detectors and the results were compared. The obtained results prove a good fast neutron detection performance of the SiPMs which makes it possible to use these types of neutron detectors in fast neutron detection applications.