The experimental activities in the materials development lab are focused on development of new materials for radiation detection, with currently two main focus areas: organic crystal growth from solution and amorphous plastic scintillators. These two main groups of materials find applications in the detection of wide-energy neutrons. Pure aromatic hydrocarbon materials are being developed for fast (high energy) neutron detection. Versions of these materials loaded with thermal neutron capture elements, such as 6Li or 10B, are being developed for combined detection of fast and thermal (low energy) neutrons.
