A review of polymeric scintillator materials for use at the SSC

The authors report a mechanistic study which defines a method of producing optically transparent polymers which retain transparency upon exposure to high energy radiation. The kinetics of recovery in PMMA and PS are characterized by boundary movement. The kinetics indicate that relaxation processes control recovery. Structures with low glass transition temperatures exhibit such rapid relaxations that annealable color centers do not persist. They altered the structures of PMMA and PS to yield optically radiation hard plastics. Low Tg polysiloxanes exhibit similar behavior