The 2022 Physicists Inspiring the Next Generation: Exploring the Nuclear Matter – Light Attenuation in Scintillators

The 2022 cohort of the “Physicists Inspiring the Next Generation (PING): Exploring the Nuclear Matter” included eighteen pre-college students that worked with six undergraduate students at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams of Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI. Over the Summer 2022, the students tested the performances of 25 cm long scintillators with cross sectional areas of 2.5x2.5 cm² and 5x5 cm² as part of a R&D effort for a next generation neutron detector proposal to the National Science Foundation by the MoNA Collaboration. Results from this work were presented during the APS/DNP2022 meeting. During the Spring 2023 semester, the students evaluated a light attenuation correction in scintillators due to the increased path length of the photons while propagating through the material. This work could have an impact on the position resolution of neutron detectors used by the MoNA Collaboration. The students also designed a possible small scale prototype that could be placed and used in parasitic mode during FRIB experiments. The status of this research will be presented and discussed.