Detection of ultracold neutrons with powdered scintillator screens

Abstract

Zinc sulfide (ZnS:Ag) scintillators coated with a thin 10B layer are widely used for ultracold neutron (UCN) detection, but their application is limited by long decay times and significant phosphorescence. We investigated two possible replacement scintillators: yttrium aluminum perovskite (YAP:Ce) and lutetium ttrium orthosilicate (LYSO:Ce). Both exhibit decay times on the order of 30-40 ns, which can help reduce dead time in high-count-rate experiments. YAP:Ce showed approximately 60% lower phosphorescence than ZnS:Ag after 2 days and detected about 20% more UCN. In contrast, LYSO:Ce exhibited higher phosphorescence and produced fewer UCN counts compared to both ZnS:Ag and YAP:Ce. While both tested scintillators are capable UCN detectors, YAP:Ce consistently outperformed LYSO:Ce across all measured performance metrics.