Comparison of various plastic scintillators with pulse shape discrimination (PSD) capabilities based on polystyrene (PS)

The work presents the performance of different plastics with PSD capabilities, based on PS, developed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Institute for Scintillating Materials of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (ISMA). The scintillation performances and n/γ discrimination properties were compared with the performance of a sample of stilbene. The tested samples are characterized by quite high photoelectron yield (3800 phe/MeV for LLNL plastic and 3100 phe/MeV for ISMA plastic), slightly lower than stilbene (4200 phe/MeV). The values of figure of merit (FOM) as a function of narrow energy cuts, showed that LLNL plastic has slightly better PSD performance than ISMA one; however stilbene has still significantly better performance than both tested samples.