Enhanced light extraction efficiency of plastic scintillator by photonic crystal prepared with a self-assembly method

Plastic scintillators are extensively used in various radiation measurement systems. However the total internal reflection decreases the scintillation light output, leading to a low detection efficiency especially in these weak signal detection situations. In the present investigation, we have designed a light extraction scheme based on the photonic crystal formed with a monolayer periodic array of polystyrene nanospheres by a self-assembly method. The photonic crystal coated on the surface of plastic scintillator can significantly enhance the light extraction by 120% compared with the plain reference sample under X-ray excitation, which is achieved by the principle of the coupling of evanescent field near the scintillator-air interface with the photonic crystal.