Organic Glass Scintillators

Abstract

Organic Glass Scintillators (OGS) have recently been reported as an exciting class of materials that exhibit noteworthy physical and scintillation characteristics. OGS are based on a stable, amorphous small-molecule host matrix that contains performance-enhancing additives such as wavelength shifters. This configuration provides a unique set of properties that combines attributes of single crystals , plastic scintillators, and liquid scintillators, respectively. Noteworthy OGS properties include scalable production via melt-casting, scintillation light yields and pulse-shape discrimination properties that are comparable to crystalline trans-stil-bene, and isotropic optical and mechanical properties that are reminiscent of plastic scintillators. This chapter will describe OGS as a new class of organic scintillator and will review the molecular design considerations that can be utilized to meet the needs of existing and future radiation detection applications. These topics will be presented in the context of the energy transfer pathways and structure-property relationships discussed in detail in the preceding chapter (Chap. 7). 8.1 Introduction on Organic Glass Scintillators The structure of this chapter begins with a general discussion of amorphous materials and their properties before introducing molecular glasses and OGS. The intent is to highlight the specific attributes of OGS that are amenable to high-scintillation performance. Among these are the photophysical parameters discussed in Chap. 7 that give rise to efficient FRET and intermolecular Dexter energy transfer, respectively. Following discussion of the performance characteristics of OGS, specific attention will be paid to properties that are of practical interest. Among these are the mechanical properties, long-term stability, and cost/size/manufacturability. The text has thus been organized into the following sections:-Glassy state of matter