  Prototypes of newly developed boron-coated straw (BCS) detectors have been
tested in the thermal and cold neutron energy ranges. Their neutron detection
performance has been benchmarked against the industry standard (detector tubes
filled with 3He gas). The tests show that the BCS straws perform near their
theoretical limit regarding the detection efficiency, which is adequate for
scientific instruments in the cold neutron energy range. The BCS detectors
perform on par with 3He tubes in terms of signal to noise and timing
resolution, and superior regarding longitudinal spatial resolution.
