Neutron and Gamma-Ray Pulse Shape Discrimination Methodology

  • I. Yakymenko O.I. Akhiezer Department for Nuclear Physics and High Energy Physics, V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, Kharkiv, Ukraine https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0194-8376
  • A. Dobrozhan O.I. Akhiezer Department for Nuclear Physics and High Energy Physics, V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, Kharkiv, Ukraine https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8830-0942
  • G. Onyshchenko O.I. Akhiezer Department for Nuclear Physics and High Energy Physics, V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, Kharkiv, Ukraine https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6945-8413
  • O. Kuzin O.I. Akhiezer Department for Nuclear Physics and High Energy Physics, V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, Kharkiv, Ukraine https://orcid.org/0009-0004-3159-1680
  • V. Trusova Department of Medical Physics and Biomedical Nanotechnologies, V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, Kharkiv, Ukraine https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7087-071X
  • P. Kuznietsov O.I. Akhiezer Department for Nuclear Physics and High Energy Physics, V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University, Kharkiv, Ukraine https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8477-1395
Keywords: Charge integration, Scintillators, Neutron gamma discrimination, Stilbene, PMT, Pulse Shape Discrimination, Charge Comparison, Zero-Crossing, Figure of Merit, CAEN DT5720e

Abstract

In this research, we proposed a new neutron gamma discrimination methodology in comparison with the classical charge integration. To record an experimental dataset, a high sampling rate oscilloscope, Keysight DSOX 6004a (20 Gas/s), was used. The reference experiment was recorded with the desktop digitizer CAEN DT 5720e with DPP PSD firmware installed. A stilbene scintillator size of 50 mm x 50 mm coupled with the PMT R1307 Hamamatsu was selected as a detector. The scintillation pulse decay has an exponential tail depending on the particle nature. The proposed technique aims to classify the geometrical peak asymmetry of the scintillation pulse detected by the detector, where the discrimination factor is a ratio of the calculated pulse weight (centroid) related to the pulse maximum amplitude position in time. The centroid of the faster gamma pulse is closer to the pulse maximum amplitude and significantly shifted for the delayed neutron pulses. The discussed approach allows us to classify events with comparable accuracy to the charge integration technique.

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References

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Published
2026-06-10
Cited
How to Cite
Yakymenko, I., Dobrozhan, A., Onyshchenko, G., Kuzin, O., Trusova, V., & Kuznietsov, P. (2026). Neutron and Gamma-Ray Pulse Shape Discrimination Methodology. East European Journal of Physics, (2), 101-108. https://doi.org/10.26565/2312-4334-2026-2-09

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