High-resolution neutron imaging is difficult, due to the low-light output of neutron scintillators, and the spread of light within common neutron-sensitive scintillators as well as the spread of intermediate particles occurring during the detection process. To address this issue, we have developed a highresolution scintillator for neutron imaging by combining enriched 10B with the well-known CsI:Tl scintillator films. CsI:Tl has excellent properties for X-ray imaging applications, due to a high light yield of 60 000 photons/MeV, and high spatial resolution, which derives from its microcolumnar structure, which channels scintillation light to the photodetector. To enable CsI:Tl to detect neutrons, 10B (96% enriched) was deposited by electron beam directly onto the CsI:Tl film, making a layered scintillator structure in which the alphas produced by the neutron interaction with 10B are detected in the CsI:Tl. The 10B layer was approximately 3 μm thick, while the thickness of the CsI:Tl film was 11 μm. These novel layered scintillators were integrated into the high-resolution neutron imaging detector [“Paul Scherer Institute (PSI) Neutron Microscope”] at the Pulse OverLap DIffractometer (POLDI) beamline at the PSI. With our 10B/CsI:Tl scintillator, we were able to achieve a spatial resolution down to 9 μm. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the layered scintillator, we present results obtained by thermal neutron imaging as well as high-resolution neutron-computed tomography. Finally, we believe there is considerable scope for future optimization of the performance of this system.

中文翻译：

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使用鹿钛癫痫oron/CsI:Tl 闪烁屏进行高分辨率热中子成像


由于中子闪烁体的光输出低、普通中子敏感闪烁体内的光扩散以及探测过程中发生的中间粒子的扩散，高分辨率中子成像很困难。为了解决这个问题，我们通过将富集 10B 与众所周知的 CsI:Tl 闪烁体薄膜相结合，开发了一种用于中子成像的高分辨率闪烁体。 CsI:Tl 具有 60 000 光子/MeV 的高光产率和高空间分辨率，因此在 X 射线成像应用中具有优异的特性，而高空间分辨率源自其微柱结构，可将闪烁光引导至光电探测器。为了使 CsI:Tl 能够检测中子，通过电子束将 10B（富集度 96%）直接沉积到 CsI:Tl 薄膜上，形成层状闪烁体结构，其中中子与 10B 相互作用产生的 α 射线在 CsI 中被检测到： TL。 10B层的厚度约为3μm，而CsI:Tl薄膜的厚度为11μm。这些新颖的层状闪烁体被集成到 PSI 脉冲重叠衍射仪 (POLDI) 光束线上的高分辨率中子成像探测器 [“Paul Scherer 研究所 (PSI) 中子显微镜”]。借助我们的 10B/CsI:Tl 闪烁体，我们能够实现低至 9 μm 的空间分辨率。为了证明层状闪烁体的有效性，我们展示了通过热中子成像以及高分辨率中子计算机断层扫描获得的结果。最后，我们相信该系统的性能未来还有很大的优化空间。