Optical identification and quantification of single neutron detection in 6LiF/ZnS scintillators using a CMOS camera

The possibility of observing the light from single neutron detection in scintillation materials by highly pixelated silicon sensors coupled with a demagnification optical lens could lead to a new generation of position-sensitive neutron detectors with relatively large area coverage and competitive spatial resolution. Several ZnS/(LiF)-Li-6-based scintillators were tested at the SINQ Beamline for Neutron Optics (BOA) using a neutron radiography setup mounting a sCMOS camera with an f/0.95 commercial objective. Single neutrons were identified and distinguished from the camera noise and particles detected directly in the silicon sensor in all the tested scintillators, with exposures starting from 1 ms. Linearity between neutron counting and exposure times was obtained from 10 ms up to 200 ms.