The fabrication of wavelength shifting lightguides from clear acrylic sheet by disperse dyeing

Wavelength shifting lightguides have found extensive use as a means of collecting scintillation or cherenkov light from large areas onto a smaller area photodetector and for matching the emitted spectrum to the spectral response of the photodetector. Conventionally, such lightguides are fabricated by casting acrylic polymer with the fluorescent dye incorporated in the bulk. A technique has been developed in which plain cast acrylic sheet is disperse dyed in an aqueous bath. The resulting lightguide has the fluorescent dye held in a thin layer at the surface of the material. A number of different fluorescent dyes are demonstrated