Proton-induced radiation damage in Cs₂LiYCl₆:Ce scintillator

Cs2LiYCl6:Ce crystal scintillator (CLYC:Ce) has garnered significant attention for its applications in both neutron detection and gamma-ray spectroscopy. This is due to its excellent pulse shape discrimination (PSD) capabilities, which allow for distinguishing between neutrons and gamma rays. Recently, there has been interest in utilizing CLYC:Ce in high-dose environments, making it crucial to understand the effects of radiation damage on its performance. In this work, we aim to examine the impact of radiation damage on the scintillation performance of CLYC:Ce under 100 MeV proton beam. To minimize systematic uncertainty, the change in light output of CLYC: Ce was measured at different accumulated doses using the same experimental setup. The pulse shape discrim-ination for thermal neutrons was assessed before and after irradiation. Additionally, the decay time of gamma-ray and thermal neutron-induced pulses was analyzed at various accumulated doses. The results of these analyses provide support for little degradation of pulse shape discrimination even with the high proton dose. Furthermore, the study considered and discussed the scintillation recovery of CLYC:Ce over a month. Despite the substantial damage induced by high-energy protons, the results demonstrate that CLYC:Ce remains a promising scintillator for thermal neutron detection.