  TRION is a sub-mm spatial resolution fast neutron imaging detector, which
employs an integrative optical time-of-flight technique. The detector was
developed for fast neutron resonance radiography, a method capable of detecting
a broad range of conventional and improvised explosives. In this study we have
analyzed in detail, using Monte-Carlo calculations and experimentally
determined parameters, all the processes that influence the signal and noise in
the TRION detector. In contrast to event-counting detectors where the
signal-to-noise ratio is dependent only on the number of detected events
(quantum noise), in an energy-integrating detector additional factors, such as
the fluctuations in imparted energy, number of photoelectrons, system gain and
other factors will contribute to the noise. The excess noise factor (over the
quantum noise) due to these processes was 4.3, 2.7, 2.1, 1.9 and 1.9 for
incident neutron energies of 2, 4, 7.5, 10 and 14 MeV, respectively. It is
shown that, even under ideal light collection conditions, a fast neutron
detection system operating in an integrative mode cannot be
quantum-noise-limited due to the relatively large variance in the imparted
proton energy and the resulting scintillation light distributions.
