Plastic scintillators
Plastic scintillators were first explored in the 1950’s and they are now widely used in a broad range of radiation detection applications.
Plastic scintillators essentially take the form of luminofores (i.e. luminescent additives) which are uniformly embedded into transparent polymer substrates. Varying compositions allow endless variants of the scintillation characteristics (such as light output, transparency to own emission, decay time and resistance to radiation) to be formulated. Specific advantages are:
  • High light output - c.15-20% of NaI(Tl)
  • Fast signals - rise times (<ns) and decay times (2-3 ns)
  • High resistance to radiation - typically up to 10Mrad
  • Easily fabricated and machined into cylinders, rods, sheets, fibres etc.
  • Can be supplied as physically large areas (up to >100cm square) and
  • volumes (up to 30cm diameter and 50cm long)
  • Physically robust
  • Low cost
Plastic Scintillator Characteristics
- Optical Properties -
Property Units Value
Wavelength (Max. Emission) nm 430
Wavelength Range nm TBA
Decay Times ns 2 - 3
Light Yield photons/keV
Photoelectron Yield % of Anthracene 56
Radiation Length cm 2.06
Optical Transmission µm TBA
Transmittance % TBA
Refractive Index 1.06 (@ 430nm)
Reflection Loss/Surface % TBA
- Mechanical Properties -
Property Units Value
Density g/cm³ 1.06
Atomic Number (Effective) TBA
Melting Point ºK 1627
Thermal Expansion Coeff. C⁻¹ 18.4 x 10‾⁶
Cleavage Plane None
Hardness Mho TBA
Hygroscopic No
Solubility g/100gH₂0 TBA
Plastic Scintillator Variants
Scintillator Properties Applications
UPS-89, UPS-923A, UPS-90, UPS-96 Very high light output, good transparency, short decay time General purpose, particle detection
UPS-92S Slow decay time Phoswiches
UPS-91F Ultra fast decay time High energy physics, calorimetry
UPS-92RH Radiation hard High energy physics, calorimetry
UPS-96M Pressure molding technique, very cheap High energy physics, calorimetry
UPS-976, UPS-971, UPS-972,

UPS-973, UPS-974		 Various wavelengths of maximum emission Operation with fiber shifters
Plastic Scintillator - Physical Properties
Scintillators Light output
% anthracene		 Wavelength max. emiss., nm Rise time,
ns		 Decay time,ns Light attenuation length, cm Analoges
UPS-89 65 418 0.9 2.4 360 NE102A
UPS-923A 60 425 0.9 3.3 3.3 BC400, NE114
UPS-90 50 418 1 3.5 400 NE110
UPS-92S 44 380 0.9 380-450 350 BC412, NE115
UPS-91F 39-45 390 0.7 0.6-0.4 0 PilotV, BC422Q
UPS-92RH 60 350 0 3.5 425 SCSN81
UPS-96M 55 418 1 3.5 25 none
UPS-97G 60 425 0.9 3.3 60 BC444
UPS-971 55 425 0.9 400 none
UPS-972 44 435 0.9 400 none
UPS-973 45 445 0.9 400 none
UPS-974 53 480 0.9 400 none