Accounting for self-absorption in calculation of light collection in plastic scintillators

Abstract This paper concerns Monte Carlo calculations of light collection in plastic scintillators with accounting for self-absorption. Two approaches are compared: a monochrome one, which takes into account light absorption at a wavelength of the emission spectra maximum, and a spectral one, which accounts for the absorption dependence on a wave length over the whole range of scintillating photon emission. Both approaches are used in light yield calculations for OPERA and Super-Nemo detectors. It is shown that the monochrome approach overestimates light collection values 1.5–2 times, while the spectral one leads to better agreement with experiment.