Note on the Intrinsic Resolution in Liquid Organic Scintillators

TL;DR

This paper presents a phenomenological model for the intrinsic resolution in liquid organic scintillators, explaining experimental data with a universal parameter and highlighting its impact on detector energy resolution.

Contribution

It introduces a new model for intrinsic resolution in LSs using a single universal parameter, systematizing scarce experimental data.

Findings

Intrinsic resolution around 2% at 1 MeV energy

Model fits all available experimental data

IR causes additional energy resolution smearing

Abstract

Fluctuations in photon production in scintillator could contribute to the total energy resolution of a scintillation detector. This contribution, called intrinsic resolution (IR), is one of the factors limiting the total energy resolution in detectors based on liquid organic scintillators (LSs). There are very few experimental measurements of the IR in LSs available, and the underlying physics is not completely understood. We propose a phenomenological description of IR of LSs and systematize the data available using a single universal parameter that characterizes IR. We show that all experimental data within the model demonstrate the presence of extra smearing of energy resolution due to IR with a typical value of $\simeq2$\% at 1-MeV energy release. The model can be used to simulate the effect of IR in LS-based detectors.