Scintillators for Fiber Optics: System Sensitivity and Bandwidth as a Function of Fiber Length

摘要

Scintillators have been employed for several years as ionizing radiation-to-light converters in plasma diagnostic experiments that utilize fiber optics. Until recently, nanosecond and subnanosecond scintillators were available only in the near ultraviolet. However, the bandwidth and transmission properties of fiber optics both strongly favor operation at longer wavelengths. More recently, nanosecond and subnanosecond scintillators with emission peaks around 480 nm have been reported. A time-resolved plasma-imaging experiment using one of these scintillators and 100 channels of graded-index fiber, each 500 m long, has been successfully tested on a nuclear event at the Nevada Test Site. During the past year we have developed several new scintillator systems with emission wavelengths more compatible with fiber optics and with response times in the nanosecond and subnanosecond time region. One scintillator, based on Kodak dye 14567 (DCM), has an emission maximum at 650 nm and a response time (FWHM) of 1.2 ns. Experimental data on system sensitivity and bandwidth versus fiber length are presented for three fluor-fiber systems. Data on fluor formulation, response time, and linearity-of-response are given, and a model for scintillator nonlinearity, based on solvent, radiation-induced, transient absorption, is presented. (ERA citation 06:027578)