Scintillator doped with a high neutron-capture cross-section material can be used to detect neutrons via their resulting gamma rays. Examples of such detectors using liquid scintillator have been successfully used in high-energy physics experiments. However, a liquid scintillator can leak and is not as amenable to modular or complex shapes as a solid scintillator. Polystyrene-based scintillators from a variety of gadolinium compounds with varying concentrations were polymerized in our laboratory. The light output, emission spectra, and attenuation length of our samples were measured and light collection strategies using a wavelength shifting (WLS) fiber were evaluated. The measured optical parameters were used to tune a Geant4-based optical Monte Carlo, enabling the trapping efficiency to be calculated. This technology was also evaluated as a possible neutron veto for the direct detection dark matter experiment, Super Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (SuperCDMS).
@article{arxiv.1812.11267,
title = {Characterization of Gadolinium-loaded Plastic Scintillator for Use as a Neutron Veto},
author = {D. M. Poehlmann and D. Barker and H. Chagani and P. Cushman and G. Heuermann and A. Medved and H. E. Rogers and R. Schmitz},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1812.11267},
year = {2019}
}