Utilizing the luminescent properties of hexagonal boron nitride for thermal neutron detection

Hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) has great potential in the field of neutron detection. Current h-BN neutron detectors require the material to have excellent single-crystal performance, which to some extent limits its application. This study proposes a new detection method that uses the defect luminescence of h-BN for direct thermal neutron detection. In the experiment, two samples with thicknesses of 70um and 200um were used, respectively. Measurements of the Raman spectra and X-ray excitation spectra of the two samples indicated that increasing a certain density of defects can enhance the luminescence intensity of h-BN. In addition, a 241 Am-Be neutron source was used to collect the neutron irradiation energy spectra of the two samples. The results showed that it is practicable to detect neutron signals without complex n/γ discrimination algorithms, and its excellent ability to resist gamma-ray interference is indicated even if the low-energy gamma-ray flux of the neutron source is about 1000 times higher than the thermal neutron flux.This new approach for thermal neutron detection does not require h-BN to have excellent single-crystal performance,