Study of light yield for different configurations of plastic scintillators and wavelength shifting fibers

Abstract In the effort of the AugerPrime scintillator surface detector R&D activity, we investigated the performances of different extruded and cast plastic scintillators that were read out with wavelength-shifting (WLS) optical fibers and then coupled to a PMT. In particular we compared the light yield of eighteen scintillator/fiber configurations, obtained combining eight different scintillator bars with six fiber types, in order to investigate which was satisfying the AugerPrime specifications in terms of light production ( > 12  photoelectrons per minimum ionizing particle). In this paper, we present the results of the study on different scintillator bar geometries, scintillator production techniques, and wavelength-shifting optical fiber types. We also propose an effective way to optically couple the fibers to the PMT entrance window.