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Abstract

Polyethylene Naphthalene (PEN) presently attracts the interest of various
groups as a relatively cheap, radio-pure scintillating material, which
can be moulded in arbitrary geometries. Various potential application
fields, spanning from low-background experiments to high-energy physics
calorimeters to potential use in education could profit from the use of PEN.
The light output of PEN as custom-made scintillator is not yet well understood.
The goal of this thesis was the investigation of optical properties of
PEN.
Three dedicated setups were used, two of which had to be built and
characterised as part of this master thesis. A photospectrometer setup
for measuring the spectral shape and light output of different samples was
installed, optimised, and characterised. For light output measurements, a
setup with a photomultiplier tube (PMT) was built and first measurements
were performed. The test of temperature dependence of PEN light output
was conducted in an available experimental setup.
The measurements with the spectrometer showed, that some moulding
parameters influence the light output. Using a PMT setup, it could be
demonstrated that PEN tiles can be used with similar efficiency as standard
BC408 scintillator tiles for veto purposes. Also, clear evidence for increasing
light output at lower temperatures could be found.