An optimized design of a neutron detector based on timing RPCs (Resistive Plate Chambers) with boron-10 neutron converters is presented. The detector is composed of a stack of ten double gap RPCs with aluminium cathode plates coated on both sides with 10B4C. This design enables simultaneous determination with high accuracy of both the neutron time-of-flight (down to ns resolution) and the interaction position in 3D (down to 0.25 mm resolution across and ~1 mm along the beam). It is shown that the detection efficiency can approach 60% for neutrons with λ = 4.7 \.A. A new geometry with less material budget is introduced for the signal pick-up strip arrays. The results of simulation-based optimization of the design are reported considering the trade-off between the detection efficiency, the count rate capability and the amount of elastic scattering on the detector components.
@article{arxiv.2303.03461,
title = {Timing resistive plate chambers for thermal neutron detection with 3D position sensitivity},
author = {L. M. S. Margato and G. Canezin and A. Morozov and A. Blanco and J. Saraiva and L. Lopes and P. Fonte},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2303.03461},
year = {2023}
}