Radiation physical chemistry effects on organic detectors

The radiation damage effect on a liquid scintillating system was evaluated in the PPO and POPOP solutes. Samples containing PPO (1%w/v) and POPOP (0.2%w/v) diluted in toluene were irradiated at different doses, using a 60Co irradiator at 1.8 Gy/s. The transmittance and the chemical degradation of those solutes were evaluated as a function of dose. The PPO transmittance at 360 nm decayed exponentially with the dose, while the POPOP transmittance at 420 nm decayed linearly. The chemical degradation on the PPO and POPOP was fitted to a bi-exponential mathematical model as a function of dose. The first exponential (fast slope) was interpreted as damage produced by toluene radiolytics whereas the second exponential (slow slope) was interpreted as the damage caused by primary interaction of the γ-radiation with targets, i.e., γ photons that hit PPO and POPOP directly. The w (eV/damage molecule) and G (damaged molecules/100 eV) parameters were estimated in this paper.