GEANT4 simulations of a novel 3He-free thermalization neutron detector

A novel concept for ³He-free thermalization detector is here investigated by means of GEANT4 simulations. The detector is based on strips of solid-state detectors with ⁶Li deposit for neutron conversion. Various geometrical configurations have been investigated in order to find the optimal solution, in terms of value and energy dependence of the efficiency for neutron energies up to 10 MeV. The expected performance of the new detector are compared with those of an optimized thermalization detector based on standard ³He tubes. Although an ³He-based detector is superior in terms of performance and simplicity, the proposed solution may become more appealing in terms of costs in case of shortage of ³He supply.