Developing Ce: LiYSiO₄ Ceramic Scintillators for Neutron Detection

Polycrystalline ceramic Ce ³⁺ -doped LiYSiO 4 (Ce:LYSO) samples were fabricated for neutron position-sensitive detectors (n-PSDs) and high-resolution neutron imaging. Scintillation light outputs and decay lifetimes was measured, and neutron-gamma discrimination capability were assessed. The maximum light yield of the ceramics is about 1.25 times that of GS20 ⁶ Li-glass scintillator, e.g., 8 k photons per thermal neutron. The longest decay lifetime of these ceramic scintillators is 61 ns, shorter than that of GS20. A graph-embedded nonnegative matrix factorization (GNMF) algorithm results in excellent neutron-gamma discrimination (NGD) and neutron-background discrimination (NBD). If these scintillators are used for gamma detection, excellent gamma-ambient -background discrimination (GBD) is achieved, too. Potential applications of these ceramic scintillators include neutron, X-ray, or gamma detection, nondestructive testing, and security check.