Scintillating Glass, Fiber-Optic Plate Detectors for Active Target and Tracking Applications in High Energy Physics Experiments

We have been developing a scintillating glass fiber-optic imaging system for active target and tracking applications in high energy physics experiments, Extensive measurements have been performed on several scintillating-glass compositions, one of which is a silicate-glass containing 0. 6 mole % of Ce2O3 known commercially as NRL glass. For this material, fabricated into coherent fiber-optic plates of 10 μm and 25 μm diameter cladded-glass fibers, we have observed: (1) clear particle tracks and interactions; and (2) a yield of ~ 2 photoelectrons per millimeter of path length for minimum ionizing particles, Additionally, for the bulk NRL glass formed in disks of 1" diameter and 4 mm thickness, we have observed a ~80% retention of optical transmission through 4 mm of material at 395 nm (the peak of the fluorescence spectrum) for a radiation dose in excess of 107 rads acquired over several days. Results of these tests and others suggest that Ce2O3 based scintillating glasses constitute very promising materials for the fabrication of high resolution tracking detectors for fixed target and colliding beam applications.