Polyurethane Scintillators for High-Energy Physics Detectors: Optimization, Scale-up, and Radiation Response
Plastic scintillators remain attractive for large-area particle detectors because of their fast response, mechanical flexibility, and relatively simple fabrication. Motivated by future applications including the ALICE~3 Muon Identifier (MID) and the upgrade of the ALICE Fast Interaction Trigger (FIT), this work investigates polyurethane (PU)-based plastic scintillators doped with 2,5-diphenyloxazole (PPO) and 1,4-bis(5-phenyloxazol-2-yl)benzene (POPOP). Systematic information on the optimization and radiation response of this material system remains limited. A series of compositions was therefore fabricated and characterized using minimum-ionizing particles (MIP), optical spectroscopy, and time-correlated single-photon counting. The measurements show that the scintillation response is governed primarily by the PPO concentration, while POPOP mainly modifies the spectral response, and fast effective decay times of approximately 1.6--1.75~ns are maintained across the doped samples. The best-performing formulation was subsequently scaled to 20-$cm$ and 1-m scintillator bars and successfully operated with a single embedded wavelength-shifting fiber and SiPM readout, demonstrating its suitability for meter-scale light collection. Proton-irradiation measurements at the CERN IRRAD facility further revealed systematic degradation of the optical and scintillation responses with increasing exposure, together with substantial recovery after approximately two months. These results demonstrate that optimized PU--PPO--POPOP scintillators can combine fast timing, high light output, scalable detector geometry, and recoverable radiation response, supporting their further development for future large-area particle-detector systems.