Speaker
Description
The European Pathfinder project Unicorn aims to advance radiation detection
techniques through the development of novel nanoparticle-based scintillating
materials. This work explores the scintillation properties of inorganic
scintillator nanocrystals embedded in polymer or glass matrices, aiming at applications
in gamma and beta decay detection. This research employs a numerical
simulation framework of GEANT4 to examine the effects of key optical
parameters such as the absorption and overall scattering on the light transport
within the composite and the overall scintillation performance of nanocomposites.
This work is complemented by experimental studies which aim to assess
the absorption and overall light scattering of produced nanocomposite samples
and decouple the two main components of scattering: Rayleigh and Mie. The
decoupling is done using a combination of experimental measurements of transmittance
with a plug-in integrating sphere and additional numerical simulations
of light transport. Ultimately, this work contributes to the development of efficient
scintillator nanocomposites, paving the way for enhanced radiation detection
capabilities in various applications, including high-energy physics, medical
imaging and search for rare events, in particular for neutrinoless double beta
decay.
