Scintillators for neutron detection and neutron detectors using the same

A neutron detector comprising a neutron detecting scintillator, a wavelength shifting fiber, a photomultiplier tube, a fast pulse amplifier, a pulse height analyzer and a neutron incidence counter,

• wherein said scintillator consists of an LBO single crystal selected from the group consisting of a Li2B4O7 single crystal and a LiB3O4 single crystal, each of the Li2B4O7 single crystal and the Li2B4O7 single crystal are independently selected from the group consisting of natural Li and natural B, single crystals comprising Li enriched by at least 90% in 6Li and B enriched by at least 99% in 10B, and natural Li and B enriched by at least 90% in 10B, into which neutrons are launched, the neutron capture reaction with a neutron launched into the crystal generates an ionizing radiation which in turn emits fluorescence with a decay time of no longer than 10 ns, and said LBO single crystal has a fluorescence wavelength spectrum with a peak at 330 nm;
• wherein the scintillator is combined with the wavelength shifting fiber having two fluorescence absorption bands, one ranging from 250 nm to 350 nm and the other ranging from 350 nm to 450 nm, to cover a wide range of fluorescence produced by the single crystal;
• wherein the photomultiplier tube processes the fluorescence, which is picked up as a fast pulsed current signal having a pulse duration of no longer than 30 ns,
• wherein the pulse height analyzer receives the fast pulsed current signal either directly or after amplification with the fast pulse amplifier, and
• wherein the neutron incidence counter counts the pulses to detect the incident neutrons.