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Temperature dependence of the time resolution in a SiPM-readout plastic scintillator for cosmic-ray applications
Summary
This study isn't about human health or microplastics—it's actually physics research testing detectors used to study cosmic rays (high-energy particles from space) aboard balloons and spacecraft. Researchers found that a specific type of particle detector kept working accurately even when temperatures swung from -20°C to 20°C, which matters for scientists because it means these instruments can reliably measure fast-moving particles even in the extreme temperature changes experienced during flight. While this doesn't directly relate to consumer health, it helps advance our understanding of space radiation, which is relevant to astronaut safety and spacecraft design.
Balloon- and space-borne cosmic-ray experiments employ plastic scintillators read out by silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) to achieve picosecond-level time resolutions for triggering and particle identification. The performance of these systems can be affected by temperature variations encountered in flight. In this work, a time–of–flight (TOF) prototype consisting of a BC-418 plastic scintillator bar coupled to Onsemi MICROFC-30050 SiPMs was constructed and tested under a controlled thermal environment between –20 and 20 °C. Electrons from a 90 Sr source were used as a beam, and a dedicated differential preamplifier and coincidence triggering were implemented to study the detector response. A minimum time resolution of the averaged timestamp of 160 ps was achieved at an overvoltage of 3 V, remaining stable across the tested temperature range and uniform along the scintillator bar.