Simulation research of neutron scatter camera with five units

As a neutron detecting and imaging device used for detection of special nuclear material (SNM), the newly reported neutron scatter camera can acquire the neutron position and energy information simultaneously. In this paper, the particle transport code MCNP was used together with the program MATLAB and Fortran to simulate a five-units prototype of a neutron scatter camera, and to reconstruct the image and energy of a ²⁵²Cf neutron source. The calculation results show that the camera's energy resolution is about 9% and its angular resolution is related to the size of the scintillators; when the neutron energy equals 2 MeV, the detection efficiency reaches a maximum; the distance of the source, the size of the scintillators, the distance between the front and rear surfaces of the detectors, and the number of the events have influence on the resolution of the image to a certain extent; the scatter camera can measure the fission neutron energy spectrum, but the factors such as the camera's structure and detection threshold could result in some inaccuracy of the measurement. This simulation work lays a foundation for further experimental research, and its conclusion can be generalized to the neutron scatter camera with much units.