# Design optimization of JUNO-TAO plastic scintillator with WLS-fiber and SiPM readout

## TL;DR

This paper presents a simulation-based design optimization of plastic scintillators with WLS fibers and SiPM readout for high-efficiency muon tagging in the JUNO-TAO experiment, validated through prototype testing.

## Contribution

It introduces a simulation framework for optimizing optical fiber configurations in plastic scintillators and validates the design with prototypes for high muon tagging efficiency.

## Key findings

- Optimal fiber diameter and layout improve light yield.
- Achieved >99% muon tagging efficiency with prototype.
- Validated simulation results with experimental data.

## Abstract

Plastic scintillators (PSs)embedded with wavelength-shifting fibers are widely used in high-energy particle physics, such as in muon taggers,as well as in medical physics and other applications. In this study,a simulation package was built to evaluate the effects of the diameter and layout of optical fibers on the light yield with different configurations. The optimal optical configuration was designed based on simulations and validated using two PS prototypes under certain experimental conditions. Atop veto tracker (TVT) for the JUNO-TAO experiment, comprising four layers of 160 strips of PS, was designed and evaluated. The threshold was evaluated when the muon tagging efficiency of a PS strip was >99%. The efficiency of three layer out of four layer of TVT is >99%,even with a tagging efficiency of a single strip as low as 97%, using a threshold of 10 photoelectrons and assuming a 40%silicon PM photon detection efficiency.