Fast, Radiation‐Hard Scintillating Detector: A Potential Application for Sol‐Gel Glass

Abstract

To meet the present‐day rate and radiation dose requirements, one would like to have a scintillator with the high radiation resistance of pure silica glass and the short fluorescence decay time of organic fluors. The new technology of sol‐gel glass production permits the preparation of organic/inorganic composite materials by doping the silica gels with organic fluors. The procedure of production of monolithic organic/inorganic composite materials, such as 2‐(4‐tertbutylphenyl)‐5‐(4‐biphenylyl)‐1,3,4‐oxadiazole/SiO2, p‐terphenyl/SiO2, p‐quaterphenyl/SiO2, and 3‐hydroxyflavone/SiO2, and the associated characterization techniques are described. The efficiency of light production, the light attenuation, the time width of light pulse, and the radiation resistance of the scintillating sol‐gel glass are discussed. Preliminary results indicate that this technical advance will permit the creation of new materials with potential application such as particle detectors which are both radiation hard and fast.