A Polymer Material - Composite Neutron Detector

A neutron detector based on a composite of polymer semiconductor and neutron active materials is described. The detector operates at ambient temperature, is sensitive to thermal neutrons and has a smaller sensitivity to fast neutrons. When used as a stacked series system, fast neutron sensitivity increases and an energy discriminative system results. The characteristics of the detector are high sensitivity per unit volume, light weight, potential for large area and modest costs. A qualitative description of the concept and quantitative estimates of the performance of a particular design are given.