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Title: High-Z Sensitized Plastic Scintillators: A Review

Journal Article · · Advanced Materials
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
  2. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
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The need for affordable and reliable radiation detectors has prompted significant investment in new radiation detector materials, due to concerns about national security and nuclear nonproliferation. Plastic scintillators provide an affordable approach to large volume detectors, yet their performance for high-energy gamma radiation is severely limited by the small radiation stopping power inherent to their low atomic number. Although some sensitization attempts with organometallics were made in the 1950s to 1960s, the concomitant decrease in light yield has limited the usefulness of these sensitized detectors. Recently, with new knowledge gained during the rapid development of organic optoelectronics and nanotechnology, there has been a revived interest in the field of heavy element sensitized plastic scintillators. In this paper, the recent efforts on sensitized plastic scintillators are summarized. Basic scintillator physics is first reviewed. The discussion then focuses on two major thrusts in the field: sensitization with: (1) organometallics and (2) oxide and fluoride nanoparticles. The design rationales and major results are examined in detail, with existing limitations and possible future pathways discussed. Lastly, special attention is paid to the underlying energy deposition and transfer processes, as these determine the key performance metrics such as light yield and radioluminescence decay lifetime.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-07NA27344; AC03‐76SF00098; AC03-76SF00098
OSTI ID:
1543075
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1436355
Report Number(s):
LLNL-JRNL-781719; 976556
Journal Information:
Advanced Materials, Vol. 30, Issue 27; ISSN 0935-9648
Publisher:
WileyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 132 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
gamma
high‐Z
nanocomposite
scintillator