Position-sensitive detectors of the detector group at Julich

The detector group of the Central Institute of Electronics at the Forschungszentrum Julich GmbH was founded in 1968. First developments aimed at a detector system with a position-sensitive BF3 proportional counter for small-angle neutron scattering, which was later used at a beamline of the research reactor FRJ2. At the end of the 1970s first measurements were carried out with photomultiplier (PM)-based detector systems linked with a Lil crystal from Harshaw. Based on this experience we started with the spectrum of position-sensitive neutron scintillation detectors, which have been developed and designed in our institute during the last three decades comprising several high-resolution linear and two-dimensional detectors. The general design of those detectors is based on a modified Anger principle using an array of PMs and a 1 mm Li-6 glass scintillator. The sensitive detector area varies on the type of the PMs used and is related to the spatial resolution of the detector type. The neutron sensitivity at 1 angstrom is about 65% and the remaining gamma sensitivity is less than 10(-4) with a maximum count rate up to 500 kHz depending on the used detector system. (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier B.V.