Development of neutron detectors for use in radiation protection

The first part of this study consisted in testing performance of the several neutron detectors usually employed for radiation protec- tion at high-energy particle accelerators. The in- tercomparison was made at CERF, a unique workplace field that simulates the neutron spec- trum encountered in the proximity of high-en- ergy accelerators and at commercial flight alti- tudes. The CERF intercomparison campaign allowed to understand the behaviour of the different detector and quantify their over/underesti- mations with respect to the reference ambient dose equivalent function. Moreover, these experimental data were used to benchmark the new FLUKA simulation performed in 2017. The second part of this thesis was the investigation of a fast neutron detector for a novel radiation survey meter (called B-RAD) able to operate in the presence of a strong magnetic field, to be used for radiation surveys e.g. in the LHC experimental areas. The CLYC was selected as potential candidate for neutron detec-tion because of its promising properties, such as its capability to discriminate gamma rays from fast neutrons and its energy resolution. This thesis evaluated the performance of a 1- inch right CLYC cylinder coupled with a large SiPM array and compared the result with PMTs. The capacity of the CLYC+SiPm for spectros-copy was underligned. For neutron counting, new materials were investigated.