Boron-10-loaded liquid organic scintillator as a fast/slow neutron monitor

Recent improvements of the scintillator solutions on its light characteristics, density, and hydrogen contents make the 10B-loaded liquid organic scintillator more attractive as a wide-energy-range neutron counter. Slow neutrons are detected primarily by 10B(n,α)7Li capture reaction, and fast neutrons are detected readily by proton recoil reactions with hydrogen atoms. Previous investigations on 10B-loaded scintillators mainly discuss the chemical formation of various scintillation solvents and their properties as a thermal neutron detector. Few evaluations have been reported on the performance for fast neutron detections. In the present work, the authors set up a neutron detecting system with a commercially available 10B-loaded liquid scintillator, BC523A, as a wide-energy-range neutron monitor