He, R. Varner, J. Beene
2010
Citations
0
Influential Citations
6
Citations
Journal
IEEE Nuclear Science Symposuim & Medical Imaging Conference
Abstract
Gadolinium has long been investigated as a detector for neutrons. It has a thermal neutron capture cross-section that is unparalleled among stable elements, because of the isotopes 155, 157Gd. As a replacement for 3He, gadolinium has a significant defect, it produces many gamma-rays with an energy sum of 8 MeV. It also produces conversion electrons, mostly 29 keV in energy. The key to replacing 3He with gadolinium is using a gamma-blind electron detector to detect the conversion electrons. We suggest that coupling a layer of gadolinium to a Plasma Panel Sensor (PPS) can provide highly efficient, nearly gamma-blind detection of the conversion. The PPS is a proposed detector under development as a dense array of avalanche counters based on plasma display technology. We will present simulations of the response of prototypes of this detector and considerations of the use of gadolinium in the PPS.