Study of timing characteristics of a 3 m long plastic scintillator counter using waveform digitizers

TL;DR

This study investigates the timing and light yield of a 3-meter plastic scintillator bar using waveform digitizers, analyzing factors affecting timing resolution and exploring its potential for large-scale particle physics detectors with 100 ps timing accuracy.

Contribution

It provides a detailed comparison of waveform digitizers and discusses the feasibility of plastic scintillators in high-precision timing applications.

Findings

Timing resolution around 100 ps demonstrated

Waveform digitizers effectively analyze scintillator signals

Factors influencing timing resolution are identified and discussed

Abstract

A plastic scintillator bar with dimensions 300 cm x 2.5 cm x 11 cm was exposed to a focused muon beam to study its light yield and timing characteristics as a function of position and angle of incidence. The scintillating light was read out at both ends by photomultiplier tubes whose pulse shapes were recorded by waveform digitizers. Results obtained with the WAVECATCHER and SAMPIC digitizers are analyzed and compared. A discussion of the various factors affecting the timing resolution is presented. Prospects for applications of plastic scintillator technology in large-scale particle physics detectors with timing resolution around 100 ps are provided in light of the results.