Irradiation test of mirror samples for the LHCb SciFi tracker

The optical mirrors at the inner ends of the SciFi fibre modules in the upgraded LHCb detector will be exposed to an ionising dose reaching 35 kGy for an integrated luminosity of 50 /fb. This note describes a campaign at the cyclotron at KIT where 7 different samples were irradiated with 23 MeV protons. The samples consisted of plastic scintillator tiles, on which two different mirror foils – aluminised mylar and 3M ESR - were attached with two different glues – Epotek H301-2FL and Dow Corning RTV 3145. The transmission and/or reflectivity of the samples were measured before and after irradiation. The measurements reveal the combination of 3M ESR foil and Epotek H301-2FL to give the highest reflectivity, before and also after irradiation. In all cases, the irradiation leads only to a small, i.e. less than 10%, degradation of the transmission or reflectivity. From a radiation hardness point of view, all investigated mirror samples qualify for use in the SciFi detector.