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

Figure 35 Left panel: the scheme of arrangement of glass ampoule in pipe furnace. Right panel: the scheme of 
arrangement of the form in DCF420/spec furnace. Figure is not to scale, the volume of scintillator is marked in blue.
 
Figure 36 Photograph of new furnace (left panel) and its interior (right panel).
 

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The furnace chamber (right panel of Fig. 36) ensures uniform temperature 
distribution in a whole volume. Precise temperature control (1 °C) and setting whole 
temperature cycle are possible as well. 
The polymerization of scintillating mixture occuring in the furnace leads to 
obtaining scintillating material in the form of strip. The photograph of the strip in UV light 
is presented in Fig. 37. The scintillating material is optically homogeneous and does not 
contain any defects.
Figure 37 J-PET scintillator strip exposed to UV light. 
Regarding the development of long J-PET scintillator strips, it is necessary to study 
the absorption length in the novel scintillating material. This was discussed in
chapter 7.1. Optical properties of J-PET scintillator. Attenuation length in the scintillating 
material can be determined analyzing dependence of light output as a function of position 
along the strip. Charge of signals at the Compton edge were determined irradiating J-PET 
and BC-420 [12] scintillators in several points using method described in chapter 7.2. The 
dependence for 18 cm long J-PET scintillator is plotted in Fig. 38. 

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Position on strip [mm]
Figure 38 Charge (Q) of signals at Compton edge for irradiation positions along the J-PET scintillator strip.