Non-Proportionality of Organic Scintillators and BGO

According to the present knowledge the non-proportionality of the light yield of scintillators appears to be the fundamental limitation of energy resolution. Thus, the understanding of its origin is of the great importance for a development of new scintillators with enhanced energy resolution. In this respect, the non-proportional response of the typical organic scintillators was studied in comparison to that of a BGO crystal. The studies covered tests of BC408 plastic, BC501A liquid scintillator and anthracene organic crystal. The measurements showed a much larger range of energies presenting non-proportional response compared to that known for inorganic scintillators. In the case of anthracene the non-proportionality covers energy range up to about 500 keV, while for the BC408 plastic and BC501A liquid scintillators, it is above 4 MeV energy lost by gamma quanta. The observed effect can be related to a strong quenching of the light for charged particles in organic scintillators, which is much larger than that observed in inorganic scintillators.