January 9, 2026
Report

Radiation Detection and Nuclear Security Summer School - Activity 3A: Pulse Shape Discrimination and Fast Neutron Detection

Abstract

THE NEUTRON SOURCE: The source of neutrons used will be a 252Cf source that contains about 1/3 of a microgram. 97% of decays are alpha decays while about 3% are spontaneous fission events emitted with an approximate Maxwellian/Watt spectrum. These neutrons are formed with a spread of kinetic energies ranging up to about 10 MeV (see lecture notes).

Published: January 9, 2026