Temperature dependence of plastic scintillators

TL;DR

This study investigates how temperature affects the light yield of various plastic scintillators used in dosimetry, providing data to improve correction factors for accurate measurements across temperature ranges.

Contribution

It presents the first systematic analysis of temperature dependence for multiple plastic scintillators and fibers, offering essential correction data for dosimetry applications.

Findings

Temperature coefficients vary among different scintillators.

Light yield decreases with increasing temperature.

Data enables improved correction factors for clinical use.

Abstract

Plastic scintillator detectors have been studied as dosimeters, since they provide a cost-effective alternative to conventional ionization chambers. On the other hand, several articles have reported undesired response dependencies on beam energy and temperature, which enhances the necessity to determine appropriate correction factors. In this work, we studied the light yield temperature dependency of four plastic scintillators (BCF-10, BCF-60, BC-404 and RP-200A) and two clear fibers (BCF-98 and SK-80). Measurements were made using a 50 kVp X-ray beam to produce the scintillation and/or radioluminescence signal. The 0 to 40 degrees celsius range was scanned for each scintillator, and temperature coefficients obtained.