Patent ID: 8232530

Claim:
Neutron detector for detection of neutrons in fields with significant γ- or β-radiation, comprising a neutron sensitive scintillator crystal, adapted to provide a neutron capture signal being larger than the capture signal of 3 MeV γ-radiation, a semiconductor based photo detector being optically coupled to the scintillator crystal and adapted to generate a detector signal, where the scintillator crystal and the semiconductor based photo detector are selected so that the total charge collection time for scintillator signals in the semiconductor based photo detector is larger than the total charge collection time for signals generated by direct detection of ionizing radiation in the semiconductor based photo detector, electronic circuitry adapted to sample the detector signals, and a digital signal processing device, wherein the digital signal processing device is adapted to distinguish direct signals from the semiconductor based photo detector, cause by γ- or β-radiation and being at least partially absorbed in the semiconductor based photo detector, from light signals entering the semiconductor based photo detector, after being emitted from the scintillator crystal after capturing at least one neutron, by means of pulse shape discrimination, utilizing a difference between the total charge collection time for scintillator signals generated by direct detection of ionizing radiation in the semiconductor based photo detector, and distinguish neutron induced signals from γ-radiation induced signals in the scintillator crystal by discriminating the different signals via their pulse height, making use of the difference between the number of photons generated by neutron and γ-radiation in the field of interest.