Neutron Spectrum Unfolding with Deuterated Liquid Scintillator Detectors

The detection of neutrons from nuclear reactions is becoming increasingly important in nuclear physics experiments. Neutron measurements are needed for understanding reactions that drive stellar explosions and provide insight into the behavior of exotic nuclei. Traditionally, neutron energies are obtained by the time-of-flight (ToF) method which consists in measuring the time that neutrons take to travel from the target to the detector. The quality of the measurements is limited by the distance traveled, the solid angle spanned by the detector array, and a background of gamma-rays and scattered neutrons. Pulse-shape-discrimination (PSD) allows one to distinguish, in certain detectors, neutron and gamma-ray interactions due to their decay times. A promising method in neutron research involves the use of deuterated liquid scintillators as neutron detectors where a unique correlation in the pulse-height (PH) information can also be extracted. In this work a method of unfolding neutron spectra will be presented. A response matrix is created from deuterated liquid scintillator detectors by combining PSD and PH data to obtain neutron energies alongside ToF. This method will enhance neutron studies relevant for nuclear structure and nuclear astrophysics research.