Rise time of BC-422 plastic scintillator < 20 ps

The rise time of the plastic scintillator BC-422 has been determined to be less than 20 ps. To make the measurement, scintillator excitation was produced by X-ray pulses generated by focusing 20-ps, 2.5-TW laser pulses onto gold targets. Scintillator output was recorded with an optical streak camera whose response is 15 ps. This fast rise time identifies BC-422 as a possible radiation-to-light converter for 20-ps detectors.<>