Organic Glass Based Plastic Scintillators for Nuclear Physics Detectors

Plastic scintillators are a mainstay detector material for nuclear physics experiments around the globe due to their low cost and easy-to-use form factor. However, it is extremely difficult for plastic scintillators to discriminate between different types of ionizing radiation—an essential tool for many nuclear physics experiments. In fact, there is only one product available on the market with discrimination capability, but it suffers from aging and manufacturing issues that prevent its broad adoption. To address this decades long shortcoming, a new approach will be utilized that has not been attempted before. A suite of amorphous fluorophores, developed explicitly for the purposes of radiation detection, will be compounded with plastics via an injection molding process that produces scintillators of any shape and at commercial scale. This strategy takes advantage of the comprehensive knowledge of a billion-dollar plastics industry and applies it to radiation detection materials. In this Phase I proposal, new plastic scintillators will be developed using the following approach: (1) evaluate new plastic scintillator formulations with a “fluorophore first” approach to maximize light output and particle discrimination; and (2), develop an injection-mold process for the scale-up of plastic sheets, bars, and fibers. Success in this proposal will enable the large-scale production of plastics that have performance better than any currently available plastic scintillator on the market today. These products will be tested by nuclear physicists for radiation detection and material properties. The goal of a Phase II SBIR would optimize the large-scale manufacturing necessary for serving nuclear physics customers, it would also include a more in-depth characterization on metrics relevant to nuclear physics, such as radiation hardness, attenuation length and proton light yield. There is potential for new plastic scintillators of this type to greatly increase the sensitivity of neutron detection applications in nuclear physics, nuclear security, and medical imaging. They would also increase the operational lifetime of physics experiments and increase safety where liquid scintillators can be replaced with plastics.