Discrimination of neutrons and γ-rays in liquid scintillator based on Elman neural network

In this work, a new neutron and γ （n/γ） discrimination method based on an Elman Neural Network （ENN） is proposed to improve the discrimination performance of liquid scintillator （LS） detectors. Neutron and γ data were acquired from an EJ-335 LS detector, which was exposed in a 241Am-9Be radiation field. Neutron and γ events were discriminated using two methods of artificial neural network including the ENN and a typical Back Propagation Neural Network （BPNN） as a control. The results show that the two methods have different n/γ discrimination performances. Compared to the BPNN, the ENN provides an improved of Figure of Merit （FOM） in n/γ discrimination. The FOM increases from 0.907 4- 0.034 to 0.953 4- 0.037 by using the new method of the ENN. The proposed n/γdiscrimination method based on ENN provides a new choice of pulse shape discrimination in neutron detection.