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SUMMARY:Monte Carlo Simulation of a Plastic Scintillator Detector with Pho
 tomultiplier Tube: Statistical Noise Analysis and Light Trapping Efficienc
 y
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20260612T203000Z
DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20260612T210000Z
DTSTAMP;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20260608T052342Z
UID:indico-contribution-366@fisindico.uniandes.edu.co
DESCRIPTION:Speakers: Ana María Jativa Gonzalez (Universidad del valle)\n
 Radiation detectors based on plastic scintillators coupled to photomultipl
 ier tubes (PMTs) are widely used in nuclear physics\, radiation security\,
  and nuclear medicine. However\, the final electrical signal exhibits inhe
 rent statistical fluctuations that limit the detector's energy resolution.
  This work presents a comprehensive Monte Carlo simulation implemented in 
 Python that models the entire detection chain\, from scintillation photon 
 generation to the formation of the electrical pulse at the PMT anode.\n\nT
 he simulation incorporates: (i) photon generation following a Poisson dist
 ribution with a mean of 10\,000 photons per MeV of deposited energy\, (ii)
  isotropic emission from random positions within a 20×10×5 mm³ rectangu
 lar volume\, (iii) light trapping via total internal reflection considerin
 g a refractive index of 1.58 (plastic) and a critical angle of 39.3°\, (i
 v) photon-to-electron conversion at the photocathode with 25% quantum effi
 ciency modeled as a binomial process\, (v) electron multiplication across 
 10 dynode stages with a total gain of 4^10 ≈ 10⁶\, and (vi) temporal p
 ulse shaping using a double-exponential function with characteristic rise 
 time (τ_r = 2 ns) and decay time (τ_d = 30 ns).\n\nResults show that onl
 y 11-15% of generated photons are effectively trapped and contribute to th
 e signal\, amplifying the Poisson noise beyond naive expectations. The sim
 ulated energy resolution follows the theoretical trend ∝ 1/√E\, achiev
 ing 8.5% at 1 MeV\, consistent with experimental data reported in the lite
 rature for commercial plastic scintillators.\n\n*Scintillation detector\, 
 photomultiplier tube\, Monte Carlo simulation\, Poisson statistics\, total
  internal reflection\, energy resolution.*\n\nhttps://fisindico.uniandes.e
 du.co/event/24/contributions/366/
LOCATION:Universidad de los Andes
URL:https://fisindico.uniandes.edu.co/event/24/contributions/366/
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