Active optical fibres in modern particle physics experiments

摘要

In modern particle physics experiments wavelength-shifting and scintillatingfibres based on plastic polymers are used for tracking and calorimetry. In thisreview the role of photon trapping efficiencies, transmission functions andsignal response times for common multimode active fibres is discussed.Numerical simulations involving three dimensional tracking of skew rays throughcurved fibres demonstrate the characteristics of trapped light. Of practicalinterest are the parametrisations of transmission functions and the minimumpermissible radius of curvature. These are of great importance in today'sexperiments where high count rates and small numbers of photoelectrons areencountered. Special emphasis has been placed on the timing resolution of fibredetectors and its limitation due to variations in the path length of generatedphotons.