Additive manufacturing of a 3D-segmented plastic scintillator detector for tracking and calorimetry of elementary particles
Abstract Plastic scintillators, segmented into small, optically isolated voxels, are used for detecting elementary particles and provide reliable particle identification with nanosecond time resolution. Building large detectors requires the production and precise alignment of millions of individual...
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Nature Portfolio
2025-03-01
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| Series: | Communications Engineering |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s44172-025-00371-z |
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| author | Tim Weber Andrey Boyarintsev Umut Kose Botao Li Davide Sgalaberna Tetiana Sibilieva Johannes Wüthrich Siddartha Berns Eric Boillat Albert De Roeck Till Dieminger Matthew Franks Boris Grynyov Sylvain Hugon Carsten Jaeschke André Rubbia |
| author_facet | Tim Weber Andrey Boyarintsev Umut Kose Botao Li Davide Sgalaberna Tetiana Sibilieva Johannes Wüthrich Siddartha Berns Eric Boillat Albert De Roeck Till Dieminger Matthew Franks Boris Grynyov Sylvain Hugon Carsten Jaeschke André Rubbia |
| author_sort | Tim Weber |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Plastic scintillators, segmented into small, optically isolated voxels, are used for detecting elementary particles and provide reliable particle identification with nanosecond time resolution. Building large detectors requires the production and precise alignment of millions of individual units, a process that is time-consuming, cost-intensive, and difficult to scale. Here, we introduce an additive manufacturing process chain capable of producing plastic-based scintillator detectors as a single, monolithic structure. Unlike previous manufacturing methods, this approach consolidates all production steps within one machine, creating a detector that integrates and precisely aligns its voxels into a unified structure. By combining fused deposition modeling with an injection process optimized for fabricating scintillation geometries, we produced an additively manufactured fine-granularity plastic scintillator detector with performance comparable to the state of the art, and demonstrated its capabilities for 3D tracking of elementary particles and energy-loss measurement. This work presents an efficient and economical production process for manufacturing plastic-based scintillator detectors, adaptable to various sizes and geometries. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-b063b4fe1cb54f9c9b3b89a35f6bc844 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2731-3395 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Communications Engineering |
| spelling | doaj-art-b063b4fe1cb54f9c9b3b89a35f6bc8442025-08-20T01:57:44ZengNature PortfolioCommunications Engineering2731-33952025-03-014111110.1038/s44172-025-00371-zAdditive manufacturing of a 3D-segmented plastic scintillator detector for tracking and calorimetry of elementary particlesTim Weber0Andrey Boyarintsev1Umut Kose2Botao Li3Davide Sgalaberna4Tetiana Sibilieva5Johannes Wüthrich6Siddartha Berns7Eric Boillat8Albert De Roeck9Till Dieminger10Matthew Franks11Boris Grynyov12Sylvain Hugon13Carsten Jaeschke14André Rubbia15Institute for Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH)Institute for Scintillation Materials (ISMA), National Academy of Sciences of UkraineInstitute for Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH)Institute for Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH)Institute for Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH)Institute for Scintillation Materials (ISMA), National Academy of Sciences of UkraineInstitute for Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH)Haute Ecole Spécialisée de Suisse Occidentale (HES-SO)Haute Ecole Spécialisée de Suisse Occidentale (HES-SO)Experimental Physics Department, European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN)Institute for Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH)Institute for Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH)Institute for Scintillation Materials (ISMA), National Academy of Sciences of UkraineHaute Ecole Spécialisée de Suisse Occidentale (HES-SO)Institute for Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH)Institute for Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH)Abstract Plastic scintillators, segmented into small, optically isolated voxels, are used for detecting elementary particles and provide reliable particle identification with nanosecond time resolution. Building large detectors requires the production and precise alignment of millions of individual units, a process that is time-consuming, cost-intensive, and difficult to scale. Here, we introduce an additive manufacturing process chain capable of producing plastic-based scintillator detectors as a single, monolithic structure. Unlike previous manufacturing methods, this approach consolidates all production steps within one machine, creating a detector that integrates and precisely aligns its voxels into a unified structure. By combining fused deposition modeling with an injection process optimized for fabricating scintillation geometries, we produced an additively manufactured fine-granularity plastic scintillator detector with performance comparable to the state of the art, and demonstrated its capabilities for 3D tracking of elementary particles and energy-loss measurement. This work presents an efficient and economical production process for manufacturing plastic-based scintillator detectors, adaptable to various sizes and geometries.https://doi.org/10.1038/s44172-025-00371-z |
| spellingShingle | Tim Weber Andrey Boyarintsev Umut Kose Botao Li Davide Sgalaberna Tetiana Sibilieva Johannes Wüthrich Siddartha Berns Eric Boillat Albert De Roeck Till Dieminger Matthew Franks Boris Grynyov Sylvain Hugon Carsten Jaeschke André Rubbia Additive manufacturing of a 3D-segmented plastic scintillator detector for tracking and calorimetry of elementary particles Communications Engineering |
| title | Additive manufacturing of a 3D-segmented plastic scintillator detector for tracking and calorimetry of elementary particles |
| title_full | Additive manufacturing of a 3D-segmented plastic scintillator detector for tracking and calorimetry of elementary particles |
| title_fullStr | Additive manufacturing of a 3D-segmented plastic scintillator detector for tracking and calorimetry of elementary particles |
| title_full_unstemmed | Additive manufacturing of a 3D-segmented plastic scintillator detector for tracking and calorimetry of elementary particles |
| title_short | Additive manufacturing of a 3D-segmented plastic scintillator detector for tracking and calorimetry of elementary particles |
| title_sort | additive manufacturing of a 3d segmented plastic scintillator detector for tracking and calorimetry of elementary particles |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s44172-025-00371-z |
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