Neutron Detection In Liinse2

The detection of thermal neutrons has traditionally been accomplished with He-3-tubes, but with the recent shortage of He-3, much research has gone into finding suitable replacements. Both relatively inefficient B-10-and (LiF)-Li-6-coated silicon diodes and HgI2 have been known for many years, and engineered structures in Si that have been filled with B-10 and (LiF)-Li-6 have shown promise. These devices are intended to realize an optimal juxtaposition of neutron-sensitive material and semiconductor and thereby simulate a semiconductor containing B or Li. Such material has been realized for the first time in the form of (LiInSe2)-Li-6 in which collectable charge from the Li-6(n,t) reaction indicates a neutron event. In this paper we report neutron and gamma responses of (LiInSe2)-Li-6, we show pulse height spectra from pure gamma sources and from a thermal neutron source, and we derive the mu tau product from the position of spectral features as a function of bias voltage. In addition, we demonstrate the observation of the beta decay of In-116m in samples exposed to thermal neutrons. This feature of the response serves as an additional confirmation of exposure to neutrons.