Streak camera measurement of subnanosecond plastic scintillator properties

A streak camera technique with temporal resolution of 20 ps has been used to measure the fluorescence properties of several subnanosecond plastic scintillators. The method employs a vacuum light pipe coupled to an optical streak camera. The scintillators are excited by a 200-ps x-ray pulse generated by a 1.06-microm Nd:YAG laser focused onto an iron target. The time history of the low-energy x-ray pulse is measured with an x-ray streak camera. Results are given for NElll plastic scintillators doped with benzophenone or acetophenone, for PVT doped with butyl-PBD, and for a ZnO phosphor doped with Ga.