Optical studies of scintillation detectors for precision beta-energy measurements

TL;DR

This paper develops optical calculations and simulations to improve the understanding of scintillation detectors for precise beta-energy measurements, focusing on Cherenkov photons, detection efficiency, and effects like saturation and cross-talk.

Contribution

It introduces a method to estimate light detection efficiency from energy resolution and accounts for detector effects in optical simulations.

Findings

Quantified the impact of Cherenkov photons on energy resolution

Provided a way to estimate detection efficiency from measured energy resolution

Analyzed systematic shifts due to detector saturation and cross-talk

Abstract

This work presents optical calculations and simulations for scintillation detectors used in precision measurements of beta-particle energy spectra. Particular attention is given to Cherenkov photons and the impact of the light detection efficiency in the detector ensemble. We present an approach to estimate this light detection efficiency from the measured energy resolution of a detector. This is essential for the inclusion of scintillation photons in optical tracking Monte-Carlo simulations. A method to account for possible saturation and cross-talk of silicon photo-multipliers is also discussed. The impact of these effects is quantified in terms of systematic shifts in the extraction of the Fierz interference term from measurements of beta-energy spectra using scintillator detectors.