Counting of ultraintense laser-driven neutrons from the pulse height of time-of-flight detector includes ultrafast timing plastic scintillator

The scintillation process is one of the most important methods available for neutron detection and spectroscopy. The radioactive isotopes used in calibration of the scintillators cannot provide the required accurate measurement of their response. Here, a comprehensive study including a simple model to calculate the scintillation response of plastic scintillators to high fluxes of neutrons produced by the ultraintense lasers is presented. The number of recoiled protons due to elastic scattering by the neutrons incident on a plastic scintillator is calculated at any neutron energy over the energy range 0.3 < E < 30 MeV. The specific energy loss, the light energy, and the range of the recoiled protons are calculated over the same energy range. As well, the current peak of the electrical signal produced by a photomultiplier tube coupled to the scintillator is given as a function of the neutron energy. Counting of the neutrons incident on the scintillator from the current peak is computed depending on the neutron energy over the energy range 0.3 < E < 30 MeV. The calculated spectra are compared with those obtained from calibration for the available experimental data