Measurement of radiation damage on organic scintillators caused by gamma-rays and its recovery time

Abstract

Several types of organic scintillator were exposed to a ⁶⁰Co γ-ray source at a dose rate of 1.838 x 10⁻² Gy/s in order to study the radiation damage in the range 10³-4 x 10⁴ Gy of absorbed dose, both in air and in nitrogen environment. The effect of radiation damage was measured by the change in optical transmission and light output before and after the irradiation of each sample. A different degree of damage, related to the type of scintillator and to the radiation environment, was observed.