Scintillation Timing Characteristics of Common Plastics for Radiation Detection Excited With 120 GeV Protons

TL;DR

This study measures the timing properties of PEN and PET plastics when excited by high-energy protons, revealing their decay constants to inform their suitability for radiation detection applications.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed timing characterization of PEN and PET plastics under 120 GeV proton excitation, highlighting their potential for radiation detection.

Findings

PEN has a decay constant of 34.91 ns.

PET has a decay constant of 6.78 ns.

Both plastics exhibit unique scintillation timing properties.

Abstract

The timing characteristics of scintillators must be understood in order to determine which applications they are appropriate for. Polyethylene naphthalate (PEN) and polyethylene teraphthalate (PET) are common plastics with uncommon scintillation properties. Here, we report the timing characteristics of PEN and PET, determined by exciting them with 120 GeV protons. The test beam was provided by Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, and the scintillators were tested at the Fermilab Test Beam Facility. PEN and PET are found to have dominant decay constants of 34.91 ns and 6.78 ns, respectively.