UV-LED Induced Recovery of Radiation Damage in Glass and Plastic Scintillators

Modern particle physics experiments have unprecedented needs for radiation tolerant components. Particle detectors broadly use scintillators to generate optical signals in proportion to the energy of passing particles. Radiation damages a scintillator, producing color centers which absorb and attenuate light within the scintillator, reducing its performance. There is currently a major effort underway to develop new radiation tolerant scintillators and readout strategies for modern experiments. One strategy is to take advantage of the natural recovery of a moderately damaged scintillator. We investigate whether being exposed to bright light can enhance the recovery of a glass intended to be used as a substrate for producing new glass-based scintillators. We find that UV-LED exposure (365 nm) is the most effective and efficient way to induce optical recovery of the glass cubes produced by AFO Research. White-light exposure only helped recovery in the green-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. UV light exposure induced recovery in the entirety of the cubes transmission spectrum. We also find that UV-A light (365 nm) is effective at speeding up the recovery of plastic scintillating fibers. UV-LED mediated recovery techniques are a possible solution to speed up radiation damage recovery in detectors. A UV-LED calibration system inside a detector could be turned on between experiment runs in order to help the scintillating materials recover their optical properties and, at the same time, allow the detector to calibrate itself, extending the useful life of existing scintillators.