Optimization study and design of scintillating fiber detector for D-T neutron measurements on EAST with Geant4

In this study, we developed an optimal design of a fast-neutron detector based on the scintillating fiber (Sci-Fi) to provide D-T neutron yield through Geant4 simulation. The effect on the detection performance is concerned when changing the number of the Sci-Fis embedded in the probe head, minimum distance between the fibers, length of the fibers, or substrate material of the probe head.

The maximum number of scintillation photons generated by the n/γ source particles and output by the light guide within an event (event: the entire simulation process for one source particle) was used to quantify the n/γ resolution of the detector as the main basis. And the intrinsic detection efficiency was used as another evaluation criterion. The results demonstrate that the optimal design scheme is to use a 5-cm probe head whose substrate material is pure aluminum, in which 463 Sci-Fis with the same length of 5 cm are embedded, and the minimum distance between the centers of the two fibers is 2 mm.