Plastic scintillators with β-diketone Eu complexes for high ionizing radiation detection.

Luminescent and scintillation properties of polystyrene-based plastic scintillators with β-diketone Eu complexes are investigated. A scintillator with dibenzoylmethane Eu complex containing two phenyl groups demonstrates the maximum scintillating efficiency. It is shown that plastic scintillators efficiency is dramatically decreased if β-diketone derivatives contain no phenyl groups as substituents. This fact can be explained by exciplex mechanism of energy transfer from a matrix to Eu complex.