Development of novel plastic scintillators based on polyvinyltoluene for the hybrid j-pet/mr tomograph

Figure 15 Emission spectra of J-PET (green solid line) and BC-420 [12] (red dashed line) scintillators
superimposed on the quantum efficiency dependence on photons wavelength for typical vacuum tube 
photomultiplier 
with 
bialcali 
window 
(blue 
dotted 
line) 
[21] 
and 
silicon 
photomultipliers
(pink dashed-dotted line) [21]. Maximum of emission for BC-420 scintillator is placed at wavelength of 393 nm, 
while the maximum of J-PET scintillator at 403 nm. The emission spectra are normalized in amplitude. 
In the article [70] simulation of photon transport in cuboidal scintillators was 
described. Concerning long scintillator strip, photons undergo many internal reflections on 
its way from the point of creation to photomultiplier. Number of reflections is dependent 
on the scintillator size and photon emission angle. Photon registration probability is 
influenced also by other factors e.g. absorption in the scintillator material, losses at the 
surface imperfections and quantum efficiency of the photomultiplier. 
For the analysis of the light absorption in material, an effective absorption 
coefficient (µ
eff
) was calculated, scaling the absorption coefficient of pure polystyrene [71] 

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39 
to the experimental results obtained with the single detection unit of the J-PET detector
(by factor of 1.8). The dependence of the µ
eff
on wavelength is shown in Fig. 16. 
Emission of photons with larger wavelength is profitable also considering light 
attenuation. In Fig. 16 emission spectra for the BC-420 and J-PET scintillators are 
compared to the effective light absorption coefficient (blue dotted line) µ
eff
established for 
the BC-420 scintillator strips with rectangular cross section of 7 mm × 19 mm [70]. This 
value is not given by the producer. The coefficient was calculated relying on the absorption 
coefficient of pure polystyrene [71]. It is connected with self-absorption of light in 
scintillators. The light is being lost due to the transport of photons through the scintillator
bar [70]. Absorption coefficient decreases with increasing wavelength. It indicates that the 
light attenuation (proportional to 
) will be less for the J-PET scintillator with respect 
to the BC-420 since J-PET spectrum is extended towards larger wavelengths.
350
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500
550
600
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Abs
orpt
ion
co
effi
ci
ent 
[mm
-1
]
Normali
ze
d i
nten
si
ty 
[a.u
.]
Wavelength [nm]
J-PET
BC-420
Absorption coefficient