First plastic scintillator

摘要

Detection of neutrons and gamma rays-and distinguishing one from the other-is key to identifying nuclear substances such as uranium and plutonium and differentiating them from benign radioactive sources. Scintillators help discriminate these rays and particles, but have always been constructed of crystal or liquid. In the 1950s, plastic was written off as a potential source material because of its poor detection characteristics, leaving developers to choose between hazardous liquids, organic crystals that are difficult to grow, and helium tube-based systems that are now suffering from a shortage of that gas.