What I'm really confused about is, say my scintillator is really slow, and has a decay time of about 1000 nsec. Does that mean, if one neutron is being read by the electronics, for that particular 1000nsec decay period, no other neutrons can be read even if they are depositing energy into the scintillator? When they call it "slow" what does it mean exactly? That within that long decay time only one neutron is being read and that others are being ignored?
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That within that long decay time only one neutron is being read and that others are being ignored?
It means exactly that. After one particle is detected, it takes some dead time until the detector is ready to measure another particle. Any events during that time are not recorded.
For scintillators this is typically dominated by the decay time (see e.g. here on the first page).
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$\begingroup$ thank you! i have a follow up question to this. does this mean the efficiency of a detector is inherently limited by its decay time no matter how well you improve geometry or allow better light collection? $\endgroup$– BetsyCommented Feb 24, 2019 at 19:15
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$\begingroup$ No, the efficiency of a detector depends on many things. You can reduce the dead time to basically zero but the efficiency can still be very low. $\endgroup$– NatsfanCommented Mar 24, 2019 at 16:44
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$\begingroup$ @jmh but the point was the exact opposite. If the detector has a certain dead time, it doesn't matter how much you improve the the other factors that also influence the efficiency. $\endgroup$– noahCommented Mar 24, 2019 at 17:27
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$\begingroup$ thats true, but either way its important to know if the dead time. Both approaches are valid i think. Maybe not know the dead time but know if its the limiting factor. $\endgroup$– NatsfanCommented Mar 24, 2019 at 19:19