Response of a telescope proton recoil spectrometer based on a YAP: Ce scintillator to 5-80 MeV protons for applications to measurements of the fast neutron spectrum at the ChipIr irradiation facility

A telescope proton recoil spectrometer consisting of a 500 mu m thick silicon detector and a 2.54 cm x 2.54 cm YAP:Ce inorganic scintillator has been developed to measure the neutron spectrum at ChipIr, a fast neutron beam line that has recently started operations at the ISIS neutron source in the UK. The spectrometer has been tested with protons in the range 5-80 MeV at the INFN-LNS cyclotron accelerator. The light yield of the YAP scintillator to protons has been characterized relative to gamma-rays of same energies and found to scale linearly with the proton energy in the whole range. Background rejection using a Delta E-E technique by combining data from the silicon and YAP:Ce detectors has also been tested successfully. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.