Effects of Oxygen on the Optical Properties of Phenyl-Based Scintillators During Irradiation and Recovery

Plastic scintillators are a versatile and inexpensive option for particle detection, which is why the largest particle physics experiments, CMS and ATLAS, use them extensively in their calorimeters. One of their challenging aspects, however, is their relatively low radiation hardness, which might be inadequate for very high luminosity future projects like the FCC-hh. In this study, results on the effects of ionizing radiation on the optical properties of plastic scintillator samples are presented. The samples are made from two different matrix materials, polystyrene and polyvinyltoluene, and have been irradiated at dose rates ranging from 2.2Gy/h up to 3.4kGy/h at room temperature. An internal boundary that separates two regions of different indices of refraction is visible in the samples depending on the dose rate, and it is compatible with the expected oxygen penetration depth during irradiation. The dose rate dependence of the oxygen penetration depth for the two matrix materials suggests that the oxygen penetration coefficient differs for PS and PVT. The values of the refractive index for the internal regions are elevated compared to those of the outer regions, which are compatible with the indices of unirradiated samples.