Scintillation counters in modern high-energy physics experiments (Review)

Scintillation counters (SCs) based on organic plastic scintillators (OPSs) are widely used in modern high-energy physics (HEP) experiments. A comprehensive review is given to technologies for production of OPS strips and tiles (extrusion, injection molding, etc.), optical and physical characteristics of OPSs, and methods of light collection based on the use of wavelength-shifting (WLS) fibers coupled to multipixel vacuum and silicon PMs. Examples are given of the use of SCs in modern experiments involved in the search for quarks and new particles, including the Higgs boson (D0, CDF, ATLAS, CMS), new states of matter (ALICE), CP violation (LHCb, KLOE), neutrino oscillations (MINOS, OPERA), and cosmic particles in a wide mass and energy interval (AMS-02). Scintillation counters hold great promise for future HEP experiments (at the ILC, NICA, FAIR) due to properties of a high segmentation, WLS fiber light collection, and multipixel silicon PMT readout.