Study of n-γ discrimination in low energy range (above 40 keVee) by charge comparison method with a BC501A liquid scintillation detector

Abstract: A VME-based experiment system for n-{\gamma} discrimination using the charge comparison method was established. A data acquisition program for controlling the programmable modules and processing data online via VME64X bus was developed through the use of LabVIEW. The two-dimensional (2D) scatter plots of the charge in the slow component vs. the total charge of recorded pulses from Am-Be and Cf neutron sources were presented. The 2D scatter plots of the energy vs. the ratio of the charge in the slow component to the total charge of the pulses were presented at the meantime. The quality of n-{\gamma} discrimination was checked by the figure-of-merit, and the results showed good performance of n-{\gamma} discrimination at low energy range. Neutrons and {\gamma}-rays were separated above 50 keVee (electron-equivalent energy). The quality of n-{\gamma} discrimination have been improved compared with others' results at 5 energies (150, 250, 350, 450, 550 keVee).