Timing Performance of Plastic Scintillator Detectors for n_TOF Applications

Wijnsema, Rutger (2025) Timing Performance of Plastic Scintillator Detectors for n_TOF Applications. Bachelor's Thesis, Applied Physics.

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Abstract

This thesis investigates the timing performance of plastic scintillator detectors for use in the proton recoil telescope (PRT) at CERN’s n TOF facility. Since the ESRIG laboratory has no neutron beam available, downward cosmic muons were used as substitute to study detector properties. Measurements were performed with several detector separations (0-30 cm) to study how geometry affects timing resolution, spatial resolution and coincidence rates. Each dataset with 5000 acquisitions was analyzed using baseline correction, gain matching and a constant fraction discriminator (CFD). The plastic scintillator detectors showed excellent timing performance. A per-bar time resolution of 0.18 ns and a spatial resolution of ∼ 3.1±0.4 cm were achieved. Larger separation select more perpendicular muon trajectories, however, also reduce coincidence rate significantly. A separation of 20 cm provided the best balance between these factors. Applying these results to the n TOF PRT, where recoil protons travel 5 meters between start and stopdetectors, the timing precision corresponds to a fractional energy uncertainty at the percent level. This demonstrates that plastic scintillator detectors provide sufficient timing performance for proton time-of-flight measurements and are therefore suitable for n TOF application.

Item Type:	Thesis (Bachelor's Thesis)
Supervisor name:	Kavatsyuk, M.
Degree programme:	Applied Physics
Thesis type:	Bachelor's Thesis
Language:	English
Date Deposited:	17 Dec 2025 13:27
Last Modified:	17 Dec 2025 13:27
URI:	https://fse.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/37177

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