Scintillator stack, device including the scintillator stack, and method for making the scintillator stack

1. A scintillator stack comprising:

an at least one scintillator layer including a first scintillator layer;

an at least one neutron sensitive layer including a first neutron-sensitive layer;

a first light-transportation layer; and

a second light-transportation layer,

wherein the first scintillator layer and the first neutron-sensitive layer are disposed between and directly contacting the first and second light-transportation layers;

wherein the first scintillator layer directly contacts the first neutron-sensitive layer; and

wherein the at least one scintillator layer and the at least one neutron-sensitive layer each have an averaged thickness of less than 100 microns.

2. The scintillator stack of claim 1 , wherein the at least one neutron-sensitive layer includes a neutron-sensitive particulate material dispersed in pulse shape discriminating (PSD) polymer.

3. The scintillator stack of claim 1 , wherein the at least one scintillator layer is gamma ray-sensitive.

4. The scintillator stack of claim 3 , wherein the at least one scintillator layer includes a particulate material dispersed in a polymer matrix.

5. The scintillator stack of claim 4 , wherein the particulate material is sensitive to gamma rays.

6. The scintillator stack of claim 5 , wherein the particulate material includes NaI, CeBr 3 , bismuth germinate (BGO), or any combination thereof.

7. The scintillator stack of claim 4 , wherein the polymer is sensitive to gamma rays.

8. The scintillator stack of claim 1 , wherein the at least one scintillator layer includes a scintillator particulate material; and

the at least one neutron-sensitive layer includes a neutron-sensitive particulate material.

9. The scintillator stack of claim 8 , wherein the stack includes a plurality of alternating layers including the at least one scintillator layer, the first light-transportation layer, the second light transportation layer and the at least one neutron-sensitive layer.

10. The scintillator stack of claim 8 , wherein the at least one scintillator layer is an organic scintillator layer.

11. The scintillator stack of claim 1 , wherein the at least one scintillator layer is not a neutron-sensitive layer.

12. The scintillator stack of claim 1 , wherein the stack includes at least 5 layers of each of the at least one scintillator layer, the light transportation layer and the at least one neutron sensitive layer.

13. The scintillator stack of claim 1 , wherein the stack has a thickness of at least 1 mm.

14. The scintillator stack of claim 1 , wherein the stack has a percent trapped light of greater than 13%.

15. The scintillator stack of claim 1 , wherein the stack has a brightness product of at least 3.8.

16. A method of making the scintillator stack of claim 1 , the method comprising:

providing an extrudable scintillator material;

providing an extrudable light-transportation material;

co-extruding a structure comprising:

the at least one scintillator layer; and

the first and the second light-transportation layers; and

providing the structure to at least one multiplier extrusion die.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein a total number of the at least one neutron-sensitive layers and the total number of the at least one scintillator layers is equal to 2 x+1 , where x is a number of multiplier extrusion dies.

18. The scintillator stack of claim 16 , further comprising providing an extrudable neutron-sensitive material, wherein the structure further comprises the at least one neutron-sensitive layer.

19. The scintillator stack of claim 1 , wherein the stack includes a plurality of alternating layers including the at least one scintillator layer, the first light-transportation layer, the first light-transportation layer, and the at least one neutron-sensitive layer.