ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the fundamental dosimetric characteristics of plastic scintillation detectors (PSDs) are presented in detail. The chapter begins with a description of the original PSD, with which many of these characteristics were initially established (Beddar et al. 1992a). This detector used plastic scintillator as its light-emitting element (as opposed to plastic scintillating fiber, a subtle but important difference). PSDs were the focus of scintillation dosimetry during the 1990s. In the early 2000s, the focus shifted to plastic scintillating fibers, which are distinguished from plastic scintillators by the addition of cladding to improve light propagation and the use of a different base material (typically polystyrene instead of polyvinyltoluene). This chapter draws largely on work done with the original PSD and its derivatives; the properties of other PSDs, including those built with scintillating fibers, have been studied by others (Archambault et al. 2005, Beierholm et al. 2014, Carrasco et al. 2015 , Fontbonne et al. 2002, Frelin et al. 2005) and found to be largely identical to those of the original PSD. Thus, the properties presented in this chapter may be assumed to apply generally to PSDs using either plastic scintillators or scintillating fibers unless otherwise noted.
