Cosmic Ray (Muon) Detector using Scintillators and Photomultipliers

Recently I obtained some blocks of Plastic Scintillator BC412 which measure 89mm x 89mm x 38mm and is ideally suited for detecting muons.

Scintillation occurs in the BC412 when exposed to ionising radiation with an energy between 100 KEV and higher and emits light between 420nM and 450nM (i.e. blue light)

The scintillator block will be coupled using Dow Corning DC4 to a 10 stage photomultiplier BURLE S83020F which is very sensitive to light between 350nM to 500nM.

Dow Corning DC4 is mainly used in Aviation as an electrical insulator but because it is clear with a refractive index range of 1.4 to 1.5 it is similar to glass making it an ideal low cost choice Optical Coupling Grease between the scintillator plastic and photomultiplier glass envelope.

Proposed layout of Prototype Version 2

More information soon...