Plastic Fiber

Scintillating and Light Transmitting

A variety of plastic scintillating, wavelength-shifting and light-transmitting fibers are produced for research and industry.  Scintillating fibers consist of a polystyrene-based core and a PMMA cladding. The scintillating core contains a combination of fluorescent dopants selected to produce the desired scintillation, optical and radiation-resistance characteristics.

BCF-XL Series

Starting in 2023, Luxium Solutions introduced the BCF-XL series of scintillating and wavelength shifting fibers with improved, market-leading attenuation length for optimal, reliable performance for a variety of different applications. Properties of our BCF-XL fiber formulations can be found in the table below.

Current sizes range from 0.5 mm to 3 mm round cross-sections and are available in canes, spools, ribbons, and arrays. Custom sizes and designs are available upon request. Fibers > 2mm are available only in cane form to prevent the fiber from retaining the shape of the spool.

 

Scintillating fibers are well-suited for such applications as Industrial gauging, Calorimeters, Real-time imaging systems.

Flexibility to conform to the surface shape, yielding geometries superior to those of other types of detectors. Examples are detectors for monitoring pipes or barrels.

Properties

Fiber Type   Emission Color Emission Peak, nm Decay Time, ns # of Photons per MeV*

Attenuation Length (m)**

Characteristics / Applications
BCF-10XL blue 432 2.7 ~8000 >4 General-purpose; optimized for diameters >250μm
BCF-12XL blue 435 3.2 ~8000 >4 Improved transmission for use in long lengths
BCF-9998XL blue 435 3.2 ~8000 >4 Scintillating fiber, optimized for maximum light output in short length canes (<0.5m)
BCF-20XL green 492 2.7 ~8000 >4 Fast green scintillator
BCF-60XL green 530 7 ~7100 >4 3HF formulation for radiation hardness
BCF-91AXL green 494 12 n/a >4 Shifts blue to green
BCF-92XL  green 492 2.7 n/a >4 Fast blue to green shifter
BCF-9929AXL green 492 2.7 n/a >4 Blue to green shifter. Pairs well when exciting wavelengths are >425nm (e.g. injection-molded and extruded scintillators)
BCF-9995XL blue 450 2.7 n/a >4 UV to blue shifter
BCF-98XL  n/a n/a n/a n/a Not Available Clear waveguide

* For Minimum Ionizing Particle (MIP), corrected for PMT sensitivity

** For 1mm diameter fiber, measured using Silicon Photodiode

Fiber Ribbon Design Parameters

For Scintillating, waveshifting, and light-transmitting single fiber ribbons:

  • Minimum fiber diameter: 0.5mm
  • Standard Ribbon Length: 2" (50mm) minimum / 130" (3300mm) maximum
    • Contact us for requests outside our standard length dimensions.
  • Width: 20" (508mm) maximum
  • Ribbon end finish options:
    • Rough-Cut Finish: +/- 12.7mm (+/- 0.5”)
    • Diamond-Mill Finish
      <2m length: +/- 0.25mm (+/- 0.010”)
      >2m length: +/- 1mm (+/- 0.0394”)
Fiber ribbon

Frequently Asked Questions

Are fibers sensitive to Neutrons?

All scintillating fibers are sensitive to fast neutrons through proton recoil.

How is fiber light output defined?

We define the light output as # of photons per MeV for minimum ionizing Particle, which is approximately 8000 for BCF-12.  The more densely ionizing particles emits less light than per unit energy.

What is the fiber spool size?

Fiber is wound on a spool that measures 30" (762mm) outer diameter x 27.4" (698.5mm) core x 2.25" (57mm) with 1" (50.8mm) center hole. It will fit 1000 meters of 1mm fiber.

What is the lower temperature limit of Scintillating Fiber?

The lower limit on operating temperature has not been set, but research experiments have used fiber in temperatures down to about 4 degrees K.  Fiber will lose their flexibility at low temperatures.

What is the typical bend radius of a scintillating fiber

The typical bend radius is 30-40 times the diameter of the fiber.

Data Sheets
149228_Luxium_PSWS Fibers Brochure_CPrint2.pdf
PDF | 4.85 MB
149228_Luxium_PSWS Fibers Brochure_CPrint2
Operation and Care
Plastic Fiber Care

Care Instructions for Plastic and Fiber Scintillators

PDF | 60.06 KB
Care-Instructions-Plastic-Fiber-Scintillators