Modeling, Characterization, and Photopolymerization of Organic Scintillators

Juan J. Manfredi, Jr.

Air Force Institute of Technology

Organic scintillators have for decades served as valuable tools in both fundamental and applied nuclear science. Plastic organic scintillators in particular have demonstrated value with robust material properties, low cost, and excellent timing performance. Despite the ubiquity of organic scintillators gaps remain in the fundamental understanding of the scintillation mechanism, both due to insufficient models as well as a relative lack of detailed scintillation characterization measurements. Progress on both fronts will be presented here. In addition, novel developments on the photopolymerization of plastic scintillators will be shared. Photopolymerization (a technique often used in 3D printing) promises orders-of-magnitude improvements in manufacturing time compared to traditional thermal polymerization and also enables scintillator geometries that are impractical or even impossible with the traditional approach.