Discrimination of proton, neutron and γ pulse shape by CLYC scintillator

BackgroundCs2LiYCl6:Ce3+(CLYC) is a promising inorganic scintillator with excellent neutron/gamma pulse shape discrimination capability.PurposeThis study aims to investigate the response characteristics of Cs2LiYCl6:Ce3+(CLYC) crystals to 21 MeV protons and their pulse shape discrimination (PSD) capability for protons, neutrons, and gamma rays.MethodsDigital waveforms generated by proton irradiation from a tandem accelerator, alongside neutrons from an Am-Be source and gamma rays from 137Cs and 60Co sources, were acquired. Then, the charge comparison method with optimized integration time windows was employed to achieve effective discrimination between proton and neutron events with figure of merit (FOM) of 1.86, between proton and gamma events with FOM of 1.0, and in a mixed field of protons, neutrons, and gamma rays with FOM of 2.0 for neutron/gamma, 1.54 for proton/neutron, and 1.45 for proton/gamma.ResultsThe experimental results indicate that the scintillation pulse shape induced by protons in CLYC crystals comprises four decay components: core-to-valence luminescence (CVL, ~3.8 ns), Ce³⁺-related emission, Vk center-related emission, and self-trapped stimulated emission (STE).ConclusionsResults of this study confirm the capability of CLYC crystals for simultaneous detection and discrimination of protons, neutrons, and gamma rays, supporting their potential application in complex radiation environments such as space radiation detection.