Response functions of Cs₂LiYCl₆: Ce scintillator to neutron and gamma radiation

Research into advanced screening technologies has become high priority in all aspects of occupational nuclear safety and environmental radiation protection. Neutrons are a fundamental part of radiation encountered in various fields of nuclear science and technology and their detection is still employing detectors with a high thermal neutron response embedded in a thermalizing medium where helium based devices have been a dominant choice in many applications. Recently, there have been newly developed sensors based on multi-elements that include ⁶Li and ³⁵Cl isotopes to detect neutrons and gamma radiation. Among these new sensors one can cite the elpasolite scintillator, known as CLYC. This sensor contains two neutron sensitive isotopes and may serve as a dual detector for gamma as well as for neutron radiation. In this paper, the response functions of this sensor have been investigated in different fields of neutron and gamma-radiation. The sensor responses have been simulated using Monte Carlo N-Particle MCNPX code and a series of experiments have been carried out to validate the simulated data. Both sets of data are presented and discussed. - Highlights: • The response functions of two versions of Cs₂LiYCl₆: Ce scintillator have been investigated. • The crystals have been modeled in MCNPX and tested with thermal and fast neutrons as well as with gamma radiation. • A miniature data acquisition system has been used. • The experimental and simulation data have been presented and compared